Alter the Ending Before Reaching the Climax
by Hotaru Gunso
Summary: AUTHOR'S NOTE! "I'm sorry, Kyoya-sempai, but Tamaki and I never did it. I'm positive...it's your baby." When faced with his biggest mistake, how long can Kyoya hide it from everyone else before his secret starts to hurt him, Haruhi, and their baby?
1. The Secret's in the Telling

_For so long, I have been painting a specific picture on a canvas that was already set in what I thought to have been an appropriately sized frame. My entire life, I thought I was destined to just simply stay within the frame and not go anywhere past the expectations that had already been pre-determined for me. I didn't enjoy this notion one bit; but still, what choice did I have in the long run? My father didn't expect anymore of me and while I'm positive that he didn't know for sure what he'd do with me, he never thought once that I'd be able to become his successor. To put it in short, I was brought up to behave and act a certain way, to reach his expectations. That was my only purpose, should I have really had one on this Earth in the first place._

_However...that all changed..._

_...And it was thanks to none other than Tamaki Suoh._

_I had never met a person so incredibly dense before in my entire existence. So many instances involving him have occurred in which I wanted to pull out every last strand of hair on my head; he was, and still can be, that much of a moron. I had only befriended him in the first place in order to gain some form of benefit for myself, but never had I thought once that I'd end up receiving something much more from him. It's hard to put into words what that "something" was, but it was certainly more than I could have ever imagined, and more than I ever really deserved._

_One thing, though, that he did give me that I can easily put into words..._

_...The realization that I can, in fact, exceed expectations extraordinarily and go right past the frame in order to paint something even more breathtaking than what was ever anticipated of me._

_In the long run, I now see how rewarding such a realization had been. It aided in pushing me to go beyond those pre-set boundaries, to go farther than I ever imagined. Along with exceeding my goals, I also have to thank Tamaki for even _more_ than that. It was all thanks to him that I actually got the opportunity to have real friends for once, people I genuinely cared about. _

_Despite the constant irritation he often bestows upon me, I can't lie; I couldn't ask for a more faithful best friend than that idiot. The twins often brought entertainment to us all, even if they were mischievous the vast majority of the time and liked to cause trouble. Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai, though drastically different in nearly every aspect, were both very loyal friends as well. _

_Then there was her...I can't even begin to describe her. She had told my own father that _I_ of all people was amazing. She told me on several occasions what a nice guy and a great friend I was. Though she is an honest person, I personally would never think of myself in those lights, but still...along with her being complimentary to me, she was intelligent. She didn't care about what others thought. She was true to herself. She wasn't some frivolous-minded girl like nearly every other I have come across. She was the amazing one. But above all, just like that idiot...she saw through my facade...and accepted the person hiding behind it. _

_I knew I would never meet someone like her again...and I knew I would never _want _someone else either, should she be like her or not. _

_I don't know when these feelings came upon me, but as shameful as it is to say, I might've been even more oblivious about my feelings than Tamaki usually is about _everything _else in life__. I truly hadn't a clue what to do; all I knew to do was just watch from afar and hope. But sadly, life doesn't always let you get _everything_ you want, even if you are rich. I honestly can say though that I was happy for her and that moron. They seemed to make each other happier than either ever seemed before, and that was the important thing: even if I was far from happy about it, the two of them, the most important people in my life, were._

_All and all, regardless of that one little thing, I'm able to admit that my life had been going quite smoothly since then. I was lucky enough to graduate at the top of my class and meet those expectations at least. I still had a long way to go, since I still had so much to learn and a lot do in order to surpass my brothers, but I was confident that while at Ouran University, I would be able to reach those exact standards. Plus, considering that Tamaki, Honey-sempai, and Mori-sempai were all going there as well, I was practically guaranteed to enjoy my time there as well. (The twins, though they keep in contact with us, planned on attending a prestigious design school instead, which was good for them.) I couldn't have asked for anymore than that. It was everything I hoped for and more._

_At least, that was how things _were_ going...until the end of my first year at university._

_What then happened wasn't something _anyone_, not I nor my father, had planned...nor was it something to be proud of._

_I had committed one of the most disgraceful acts that was within my ability as a nineteen-year-old human male, whether it was intentional or otherwise. I had accidentally made a wrong brushstroke, and it only takes one mistake to ruin the entire painting. In other words, it would merely take my one mistake to mark down everything I had accomplished._

_But even worse, I later learned that when you try to use concealer to cover up a mistake, the concealer won't last forever and the mistake will only look even worse after that..._

* * *

Fuyumi couldn't help but feel cheerful that morning. It wasn't too often anymore that she was able to visit her family, especially considering how far away she lived now and with how busy she and her husband were lately (and in more ways than one...). Even when an opportunity in which she could had finally come up, her father and brothers were off at work or school anyway. She would sigh at the thought; some things would just never change, she guessed.

However, on this particular late January morning, she couldn't stop smiling or resist feeling ecstatic as she got ready for the day. While her father and two older brothers were long gone to work, she knew for a fact that her little brother, who was only a few months away from finishing his second year in university, had no classes that day. She figured that was the perfect time for them to spend time together and catch up, considering how long it had been since they last saw each other. While she really did love her entire family dearly, Kyoya himself always held a certain special place in her heart. He needed her especially; he didn't really get to experience the nurturing he needed when he was little, so she didn't hesitate to step up to care for him herself. Plus, he was in a tough position and needed all the encouragement he could get. Because of that, she always especially treasured her relationship with him.

_'How long has it been? Since his high school graduation, I think? Oh my, I can't believe it! We have so much to talk about! Thankfully, we should have to whole day to get through everything at least,'_ she thought as she, in her guest room, slipped on a heavy enough coat and her shoes and headed out into the alcove. Her jovial smile wouldn't leave her face the whole time.

She saw right on the wall clock that it was precisely 11:00 in the morning. Kyoya was sure to be up and about by now. Not wanting to wait, she trotted up the long staircase and down the long hallway that led to his bedroom door. Once she had reached it, she lightly knocked on it and called out to him.

"Hey, Kyoya? You up now? I was just wondering...since you don't have any classes today, I was really hoping that the two of us could spend the day together catching up! I've really missed you and I was hoping that it'd be okay with you!" she said excitedly.

No response after a moment. She furrowed her brow at this and her smile vanished. She couldn't imagine that he would still be asleep. Even on a day off, he wasn't one to just simply laze around all day. No matter what, he would always find something productive to do each day of his life. It helped him keep his sanity and his mind active, or at least that's what he would claim. Either way, anything past 11:00 was actually somewhat late for him even. As she somewhat expected, her next few knocks still garnered no response. Now _that_ was troubling.

"Now why isn't he answering?" she asked herself meekly, then sighed. "Forget it. I know he prefers to have privacy, but if he needs to be woken up, I won't hesitate to do it myself. I am his sister after all."

With that, she turned the knob and opened the door all the way, which allowed her a full view of his ridiculously enormous bedroom. It had literally looked just as it did the last time she had been home; hell, it looked the same back when he was in middle school and when she would always try re-arranging the stuff in his drawers! Still, he was the sole thing in the room that was missing, and that seriously confused the poor woman.

"Alright, this is certainly strange. I know for a fact that I didn't see him leave when Dad and the other two did. I had been hanging around the house a bit this morning before I got dressed, so I'm sure I would have seen him if he did actually leave," she pondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she began wandering aimlessly around the room, examining every inch of it as she strolled through it.

It certainly looked neat enough, and the bed didn't even look like it had been slept in the previous night. The maid obviously had come by earlier, so there was no doubt now that he had scrammed at some point. This thought alone saddened Fuyumi; she couldn't think as to where he could've gone so early...and so secretly even. It just seemed strange. She thought that he could've at least let one of the house staff know so that they could fill her in, but alas.

Frowning sadly to no one in particular, she exhaled as she casually sat down on top of his bed. Seemed like her plans were a bust now, which she hated since she was looking so forward to today. As she simply sat there, she aimlessly looked around the room further, noting all the pictures he had of the host club sitting around on various pieces of furniture. It certainly made her feel good inside to know that he had managed to make friends, and by the looks of some of the pictures, fun ones at that. However, even she had to question the particularly feminine-looking boy, but she didn't think about it for long.

Not when she noticed the answering machine that was sitting on his desk.

She raised an eyebrow at this. While he always hated her usual nosyness, this wasn't something she could resist with ease. The curiosity getting the better of her, she smiled oh-so innocently as her arm hesitantly stretched itself out and before she could even notice, her finger had quickly pushed a certain button. After the usual automated voice said, "One old message. Today, 5:46 a.m.," a female voice that was unfamiliar to Fuyumi began speaking, and she sounded quite distressed in all honesty.

_"Hey, Kyoya-sempai. It's me, Haruhi. I haven't seen you in a couple days. The two of us have missed you a lot, especially little Kyoko. She's been sleeping more easily now at least. Plus, I know you're supposed to have this day off, but I really need a favor from you. My dad has a weird shift today and right after work, I have a college interview to get to, so please. I really need you to watch Kyoko for most of today. I promise, this won't become a regular ritual. It's just for today while my dad's at work and during my interview."_

Fuyumi's eyes widened in surprise. She knew that Kyoya was pretty good friends with one girl a school, a commoner even, so this had to have been her unless it was someone he met in college. But still, it was Kyoya. He didn't take a shine to people that easily, so there was really no other explanation.

Either way, Fuyumi felt slightly better. She at least knew that Kyoya had left early for the sake of helping out who she assumed was a friend. She smiled at that thought; he was actuallly willing to wake up a little earlier than usual to help this Haruhi girl out. Her little brother had grown up a lot and had become much more compassionate. Like Haruhi, she always knew deep down that he wasn't as cold-hearted as he always tried to act like around others, and now she more more than happy that his (somewhat) kind nature was now more open.

But still, the one question was, who was this Kyoko girl? From the way Haruhi had described her, she sounded like a baby, primarily because of the whole "sleeping" comment. From that information alone, Fuyumi could only gather that Haruhi just needed Kyoya to babysit this girl's daughter. She figured that since he was busy, there was no need for her to bug him today. She could always wait until the weekend. At that moment, she decided that she'd let him be and allow him to spend the day with the little girl.

However...that was out the window by the end of the message. Her eyes expanded even further and she nearly had a heart attack. After getting over the inital shock, she rushed right out of the room, out of the house, into the limo closest to the mansion's gates, and immediately ordered the driver to take her to Haruhi's place asap. Considering that Kyoya was associated with only one "Haruhi", the driver needed no further information to Fuyumi's relief.

As the driver drove on to the Fujioka residence, Fuyumi, sitting anxiously in her seat, saw clearly how hard her hands were trembling. Along with the shock, she was also beginning to feel some irritation with the young Ootori and wanted an explanation from him the second she could find him. Those last words that Haruhi said wouldn't stop ringing continuously in her head:

_"Call me when you get this, Kyoya-sempai. I really hope you're able to do this today. I can tell for sure that, even though she's still so young, your little girl misses her daddy already. I'll talk to you later then. Bye!"_

* * *

Unlike earlier, Fuyumi didn't hesitate to slam her fist against the door that led into the Fujiokas' condo. Feeling the frustration with her brother getting to her, it felt as if Kyoya couldn't be taking more of his sweet time answering the door even if he tried. Had he somehow known it was actually her at the door, he probably would've taken as much time possible to answer it in fear of confrontation.

Fuyumi couldn't believe it. She didn't _want_ to believe it. She couldn't even get her mind to accept what was apparently reality: the fact that Kyoya, who was always so desperate to impress their father, went ahead and slept with a commoner girl and even ended up impregnating her! It just wasn't possible. And even if it was, how could he keep something as big as this secret from her and their entire family even? She knew for a fact that if her father did know, then there'd be no way that she wouldn't, so Yoshio was obviously in the dark, as were her brothers, the house staff, anyone who seemed to be closer to him than she had been recently.

_'Oh Kyoya...please tell me that it's not true...'_ she worriedly thought to herself as she tapped her foot impatiently.

In her head, she prayed desperately that there was simply some kind of miscommunication. That had to have been it. Haruhi couldn't have _possibly_ been referring to Kyoya as this Kyoko's daddy. That just wasn't something that could possibly happen to Kyoya Ootori of all people. It just wasn't. And once Kyoya would open that door, Fuyumi would get a perfectly reasonable explanation from him about this whole situation, probably something along the lines of him babysitting for his friend and her giving him the nickname "daddy" and then there'd be absolutely no problems and it'd all be sorted out.

"Hello, may I help..._Fuyumi?_"

At that moment, the door finally swung open and Fuyumi could honestly say that a part of her was hugely relieved to see none other than Kyoya right in front of her opening the door. She knew for a fact that nothing necessarily _bad_ could've happened to him, but she was still more than happy to see him standing there in his casual day off attire, completely unharmed...with a completely freaked-out look on his face (or at least what could be considered his freaked-out look). As he took in her own appearance, his words immediately came to a halt as he stared at her in utter horror, his mouth hanging just slightly open. She could practically feel the worried and horrified vibes he was giving off right then; she could see it in his facial expression how shocked and terrified he was to see her. Then again, he had a reason to be. Once her own look of shock disappeared, it was painted over with one of just slight irritation. This was Fuyumi after all, who was _never_ angry about anything else before if he could remember correctly. He could tell right then that he was in trouble.

However, his appearance alone didn't keep her attention for too long. Her eyes quickly wandered over to what (or _who_) was in his arm, and almost instantly, her look of aggravation was replaced by her shocked one again.

Sleeping soundly in her little brother's arms was none other than the most adorable little baby she had ever seen in her life. There was no more doubt in her mind; this just had to be Kyoko.

The small girl, despite her young age of only two months, already had a nearly full head of dark brown hair, a perfect in-between of both her parents' colors. Along with that, Fuyumi easily saw how much of Kyoya was in the little baby. There wasn't any doubt that she was his daughter and in addition, her niece. Her little chest went up and down with each breath she took as she slept. Had this not been such a serious moment right then, Fuyumi wouldn't have been able to resist squealing over her to death.

Unfortunately for Kyoya, that was exactly the case.

"Fuyumi...what are you doing here?" he asked her, attempting not to look so surprised anymore. He was obviously trying to keep his composure and a straight face on, but his current anxiousness was more than easily detectable to her. She simply frowned at him and crossed her arms. That was only more indication as to how much trouble he was in.

"Kyoya, I was hoping to get to spend time with you today, but...I heard a certain message on your answering machine and from the looks of it...Haruhi wasn't kidding about your guys' _daughter_," she answered him quietly, looking sternly at him.

At that statement, Kyoya's surprised look vanished. Fuyumi didn't think it was possible, but a look of complete shame and humiliation came upon his face, and that was exactly how he felt at that moment. Realizing exactly what was going on, his eyes travelled towards the floor in attempt to look away from her and stop the tears he could've sworn were coming on. He had never wanted to crawl into a hole and die so badly before in his life.

"I...I..." he began, actually stuttering. Apparently, there really is a first time for everything, but how else could he react in this situation? The worst mistake he had ever made in his life had finally been exposed to someone in his family, which was what he had desperately been trying to avoid as early as his daughter's conception. Fuyumi's expression slightly softened, but no matter what, Kyoya knew that he wasn't getting off easily, no matter how sad he looked at that moment.

They both knew now that he had _a lot_ of explaining to do.


	2. The Sharp Hint of New Tears

(A/N: Hey guys. I'm sure some of you who read this original version of this fic might be confused, especially if you didn't read my author's note before I removed it along with the rest of the original. After re-reading it, I was _not_ happy with how it was going and I knew I could do better. Overall, I feel a lot better already with the first chapter of this re-write. I just hope it's good!

Anyway, like I said before, this fic is not going to drag on _nearly_as long as my other fic did if you had read it and are familiar with it. This fic is actually turning out to be longer than I initially intended [since it was really just gonna be some one-shots], but I'm gonna try and just focus on the important emotional moments more than anything else. Also, the pic that had inspired this in the first place is in my profile! You should all look at it's uber-kawaiiness! :D That pic alone had driven me to writing this. The KyoHaru fic I had mentioned writing about was definitely not this, since this fic is similar to my other one in some aspects, but I'm glad to be writing this now!

Alright, enough rambling. Enjoy! I just hope it's not too long, but I couldn't stop writing!

Sadly for Hotaru Gunso-chan, neither _Ouran High School Host Club_nor anything affiliated with it belongs to her...)

* * *

**(February 4, 2009,**

**approximately 11 months ago)**

"Oh, Kyoya-kun, don't you think you should slow down, _just_ a little bit? It's not healthy for you to be inhaling shots back and forth like this! I shouldn't even be letting you do this in the first place! I could get into so much trouble if my employer finds out!"

In response, the third Ootori son, his ass glued to the stool he was sitting on, practically slammed the shot glass onto the counter, just like he had done with all the other ones. His head hung limply and he groaned loudly as he did so. Ranka, cleaning out the empty shot glasses from behind the counter, looked worriedly at Kyoya as he just sat there in distress. It broke the tranny's heart to see the one boy he favored the most out of his daughter's circle of friends in such agony.

"Ranka-san..." the drunk nineteen-year-old moaned, lifting his head up off the counter to make eye contact with his server. Ranka noted the dead look in the boy's onyx orbs; that only made him pity him even further. "There's nothing to worry about. If you get caught, I'll simply bribe your employer. I'm sure whatever I could offer him would be more money than he would ever otherwise see in his entire life..."

A raspy cough escaped Kyoya's throat, his words halting for a moment before he continued. Ranka wanted to make him stop, but he had a point. He was bringing better business than usual, especially since the bar was nearly deserted that particular evening. Plus, he could basically ruin any one person's life with a single phone call if he wanted to, so Ranka really did have no power to stop him, unfortunately.

Grabbing the next shot that Ranka set on the counter for him, Kyoya used his elbows to help perch the frontal half of his body off of the counter and continued, "And besides..."

A grim look came upon Kyoya's face as he (for once) slowly took the glass to his lips, not finishing the whole thing all at once.

"...even if I do get into trouble, what difference does it make? All I ever worked for is now gone...all I ever wanted was to succeed my father, and now that opportunity's out the window for good. It was literally all I had been living for anymore...I had lost the girl I love to that _idiot_, so now I have nothing...I might as well just die from alcohol poisoning right now...at least I'd be dying somewhat happily."

That statement made Ranka remember why Kyoya showed up here in the first place. Apparently, his father was to make some important announcement that evening that, while it was sure to include other witnesses as well, required the presence of all three of his sons. (It was that reason as to why Kyoya wasn't able to join the rest of the host club in celebrating Haruhi's eighteenth birthday that night in the first place.) All three of them had a vague idea of what it would possibly be about. Kyoya, however, was somewhat surprised at that. He was barely finished with his first year at university and wasn't anywhere near starting medical school, so why would his father be announcing his successor so early on when Kyoya still had so much more to prove to him? Regardless, Yoshio had apparently made some decision about something and the announcement was going to be made whatever it was to be about.

However, before Kyoya had even made it to the lounge in the mansion where the pending announcement was going to made in, he couldn't help but overhear several maids and other house staff mumbling to themselves. From what he could hear from them, his father had already determined that no matter what, he would evidently be choosing his oldest son as his successor. Though they were frequent gossipers, his family's employees were usually spot-on about whatever supposed "information" they might've gathered. Add that in with the fact that the older of his two brothers was already in the lead for this position and Kyoya realized that he should've known that him succeeding his father would've been too good to be true.

Finding himself sinking into a state mixed with panic, anger, sadness, disappointment, and several other negative adjectives, the young Ootori had blasted right out of the mansion with no specific destination in mind. It didn't really matter where he would go though; anywhere away from that place, away from that man he called his father, was good enough for him.

He wasn't one to ever find himself drinking when in severe emotional turmoil, but soon enough, he found himself right outside the bar he knew his friend's transvestite father worked at. He wasn't even sure what area of the city he was really in, but it didn't matter. He immediately rushed into the place and, well aware of how much people relied on alcohol to make themselves feel better, went against all better judgment and began downing each shot Ranka put in front of him.

As expected, the feeling was _very_ good, but it still didn't rid him of his negative emotions. But at that point, he did realize that what he had always wanted was now out of reach, so he thought what the hell? He would go ahead and drink himself to death if wanted to.

Suffice to say, Kyoya was _definitely_not being himself that evening. His self-esteem was at an all-time low and he refused to see how morally wrong his current actions were. It amazed Ranka how much this new development in the boy's life had hurt him, but to each his own, he figured.

As Kyoya finished the next shot and (for the first time that evening) set it down calmly, Ranka pitying look vanished in an instant. A look of surprise replaced it as some of Kyoya's more recent words rang in his head all of a sudden:

_"I had lost the girl I love to that _idiot_..."_

In his present state, Kyoya was obviously not thinking clearly when he said those words. As far as Ranka was concerned, there was really only one person that the two of them (along with everyone else for that matter) regularly referred to as "that idiot"...Tamaki Suoh, the guy's best friend, nonetheless. It wasn't the fact that Kyoya called him an idiot that bewildered him though, but the fact that he was secretly angry at him for being with the girl he was apparently in love with...Haruhi...his _daughter_Haruhi...

In reality, Ranka had a feeling that it could've just been the alcohol talking all sorts of nonsense right out of Kyoya's mouth, but still. Kyoya wasn't one to take a shine to most people in general so easily, much less girls, so why, even in his drunken state, would he lie about who he yearned for? Plus, he was a good mask-wearer; even though there were no instances in which anyone could detect jealousy from him, it was probably because he was able to, like all his other human emotions, hide it so ridiculously well.

However, none of that really mattered. Kyoya just couldn't have been _in love_with her. That would've been seriously out of character for him. Ranka thought that it had to have been the alcohol talking, since he had definitely drunk enough at that point. Still...it was a nice thought, the idea of the possibility that Kyoya did have the _potential_ to love her...

At those thoughts alone, Ranka wanted to squeal out of excitement so badly. He had always preferred Kyoya the most out of all of those infamous host club boys, and he certainly preferred him over their moronic "king". He was intelligent, good-looking, driven, not to mention he was always looking out for his daughter and even gave him periodic updates every now and then. It was a shame when he had graduated and was no longer able to keep continuous tabs on her anymore, but he was still always happy to see him when possible. Oh, how he yearned for his little girl to just dump the blonde doofus and go running into Kyoya's open arms!

Ranka soon found himself smiling giddily at this thought, which earned him a raised eyebrow from his current customer. Even when drunk, Kyoya could sense weirdness a mile away.

"Uh...Ranka-san?" he asked, his words slightly slurred from the number of shots he had downed at that point.

"Oh, it's nothing, Kyoya-kun, just spacing!" Ranka laughed heartily, still thinking of how wonderful life could be if Haruhi had loved Kyoya too.

However, he soon found his train of thought coming to a halt upon a nearby phone ringing. He swiftly wandered away from Kyoya to answer it, recognizing the caller ID right away. Speak of the devil.

"Oh, hi, Haruhi! How is everything? Is your birthday going well right now?" he asked cheerfully. It wasn't often that his daughter, despite her concern for him, would phone him during work, not that he was one to ever mind it. Kyoya's interest was nabbed the second Haruhi's name was uttered. He looked anxiously in Ranka's direction to see him talking to her jovially.

But surprisingly, Ranka's animated expression died within a few seconds after he had picked up the phone. All of a sudden, he looked quite distressed. Kyoya looked at him worriedly. Was something wrong with Haruhi? She was supposed to be at some nice restaurant with the others, celebrating her birthday, having a good time. Kyoya had to wonder what she had to have been calling Ranka for at this hour.

"Oh, sweetheart, please don't cry. I promise it'll be okay. Just stay where you are at home and Daddy will be there as soon as possible, alright?"

Kyoya wasn't sure at all which fact would shock other people more: the fact that he could have sworn that he felt his heart break at that statement alone, the one about Haruhi crying and feeling majorly upset about something, or the fact that the supposed Shadow King even _had_ a heart in the first place.

At that thought alone, he felt tempted to bonk himself in the head. Even in his current condition, he knew that this was seriously not the time or place to be thinking about something like that. As he could tell from Ranka's conversation with his daughter, something was seriously wrong. Frankly, it didn't matter what it was, but Kyoya felt something within himself, some sort of _need_. The need to find her and comfort her throughout whatever she was going through right then. This feeling was likely being magnified by his intoxication, but that fact didn't occur to him at all, nor would it have mattered anyway. That need began burning within him as a scowl appeared on his face.

"Don't worry about it, Ranka-san," he stated firmly (or as firmly as someone who was somewhat out of it could sound), forcefully tossing the glass he was holding in some random direction. Ranka yelped slightly in surprise and his head turned swiftly in Kyoya's direction as he heard the glass shatter. "I'll go to your apartment and comfort your daughter, my one true love, my queen, my other half! Whatever she's upset about, I will take away the pain with my bare hands! Don't wait up!"

Ranka's eyes widened in shock and, after the phone dropped right out of his hands, was about to say something when Kyoya jumped out of his seat (in a not-so-heroic way) and bolted right out of the bar and into the direction of the Fujiokas' apartment without even taking his jacket with him. Somehow, he was miraculously able to remember the direction it was in, so it shouldn't have taken him too long to arrive there.

Despite the sudden shock he had just received, Ranka found himself recovering quickly enough. He bent down to pick up the phone and, seeing that Haruhi had hung up, sighed as he put it back onto the receiver and resumed cleaning the shot glasses he was working on.

"Oh geez...I guess I can't stop him now. I just hope Kyoya-kun doesn't do anything too crazy. Even if he is drunk, I hope he has at least _some_awareness of what's he's doing," the tranny pondered, praying that nothing would go wrong with whatever Kyoya might've been planning. But still, this was _Kyoya_. Even if he was drunk to death, he could be trusted...

At least that's what Ranka thought at that point.

* * *

"Haruhi! Haruhi, please, answer the door for crying out loud!" Kyoya exclaimed overdramatically, pounding his fist against the apartment's door as he anxiously awaited an answer.

The fact that he found the place and even arrived there on foot without collapsing from exhaustion right away was already a miracle in itself. Should he be able to help out Haruhi with whatever her problem was, which he still wasn't in the know about at all, without doing something insane would be yet another one.

He gritted his teeth angrily, not being able to take it anymore. He was already so desperate to go to her aid and couldn't wait any longer even if he tried. Going against Ranka's wishes and even _further_against any of his better judgment that might've still remained, he did, in fact, decide to do something insane in order to finally get to Haruhi. Namely, he literally kicked down the door with his foot, knocking it right off of the hinges. Somehow, even after doing so, he got no response from anyone who might've in the apartment.

Stepping inside of the place, he switched on the light and took in all of the surroundings that he could view from where he stood. As one would expect, the place looked normal enough, though that wasn't what Kyoya wasn't concerned about. The place seemed deserted and devoid of any other life since Haruhi was nowhere to be seen or heard. He couldn't shake the distrubed feeling he felt boiling within him. Soon enough, he found himself (_much_ more calmly) heading towards her bedroom in search fo the distressed girl.

"Haruhi? Please come out wherever you are; I promise, it will be okay," he called out, trying to sound assuring as he approached her bedroom door and carefully opened it up.

Upon entering and flipping the light switch, he froze and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight before him.

The whole bedroom looked quite trashed from the looks of it. Books were sprawled out all over the floor as well as a few ripped up pieces of paper. Upon closer inspection, the papers looked like none other than pictures of the host club. Kyoya couldn't imagine why they would be in that state though. But along with the mess, the other thing that surprised the young Ootori was that there was something trembling underneath the covers on what he could only assume to be Haruhi's bed. No...not something, but _someone_. And with that, he could've sworn that he could hear whoever it was underneath there..._crying?_

"Ha-Haruhi...? Is that you?" Kyoya asked softly, slowly making his way over to the bed.

Once he was there, a saddened expression came upon his face just before he decided to pull the covers right off of the bed. His expression only turned even grimmer upon seeing the sight he feared to see the most:

Sitting right on top of the bed, curled up into a ball was none other than Haruhi. Kyoya couldn't help but take in her beauty at that moment. Over the last couple of years, she had grown about two inches taller, he breasts a cup size (though they were still small enough to hide under a blazer), and her hair was a bit longer (though she still didn't look overly feminine, at least) with two silvery clips in it. At that moment, she had on, for once, some light makeup, jewelry, and a gorgeous silvery dress with a halter-like top. It was likely that all of that was to the insistence of the twins and her dad, but Kyoya couldn't help but feel grateful for them insisting upon it. She really did look incredible.

However, he wasn't focusing on all that for too long at all. He could feel his heart break as he watched her sitting there trembling to death, hugging her knees tight to her chest while sobbing uncontrollably, her eyeliner and mascara running down her face. He felt tempted to cry himself, just seeing her like this, but he held back his tears and bit his tongue right then.

After a moment, Haruhi finally looked right up at her sempai, obviously a bit taken aback to see _him_of all people here to comfort her, but her tears wouldn't stop for one second as she spoke, "Kyoya-sempai...? Wha...what are you doing here?"

Her words were a little incoherent because of how much she was shaking, but Kyoya could easily make them out, despite the fact that he could feel a huge headache coming on from all that he had drunk earlier. While the drunkenness was beginning to wear off and while his thinking became slightly clearer, he was still a bit out of it. But regardless of that, he shrugged it all off; Haruhi needed him now, no matter how uncomfortable he felt.

Sitting down next to her on the bed, he looked her straight in the eye as he began, "I was at your dad's bar and overheard him on the phone with you. Since he couldn't leave he shift, I came to make sure you were alright. Now tell me what's wrong, Haruhi. You're supposed to be out with the others celebrating you're birthday, not here bawling your eyes out, feeling miserable."

Haruhi, still crying but giving him her full attention, noted his firm yet sympathetic tone and the concerned look in his eyes. This was certainly a different sight for her to see, but she could definitely appreciate it. She always knew that he could be a caring person when something meant enough to him. She just never expected that he'd care that much about her, but he was here now after all. That somewhat made her feel better, but the current pain she held in her heart kept making the tears flow right out of her.

"Kyoya-sempai...it's...it's...Tamaki..."

Upon saying his name, her sobs became slightly more hysterical as she let go of her knees and covered up her face with her shaking hands. Seeing her do so, Kyoya quickly enveloped her into a hug and tried shushing her. The girl, in too much distress right then, didn't complain or comment at all at this action, but felt incredibly grateful to have him there at that moment. She went ahead and began sobbing right into his chest. With that action, she would definitely not have been able to see the now aggravated look on her sempai's face at that moment.

"Shh, it's alright, Haruhi. Now...what did _Tamaki_do?" he asked scathingly, rubbing her back tenderly, not caring that her tears were soaking his tie to death. He was already mad enough at the dumb blonde for dating her in the first place, but the fact that he did _something_to upset her...!

"He...he...he broke up with me...and went to France to see his mother. And...he didn't even tell me in person." Haruhi's bawling interrupted her words every now and then. "As the rest of us were all sitting down and ready to order...some guy who works for his family showed up and told us all everything right there and then...I just can't believe he would do this to me...I thought that he loved me like I loved him...

"So at that point...the twins, Honey-sempai, and Mori-sempai all tried to comfort me, but...I just wanted them all to leave me alone. So then...I rushed home immediately and just began sulking...like I am now. But still...I eventually got lonely and...called my dad. But...right after he picked up...I realized that I didn't want him to leave work, so I hung up on him before I got a chance to tell him everything. So I've pretty much been sitting here alone...at least until you showed up, Kyoya-sempai..."

Kyoya immediately tightened his hold on her, refusing to blow up and curse his "best friend's" name to the heavens right when she was upset enough as it was. Not even he could believe that Tamaki would do such a thing. He was so sure that the two of them were all lovey-dovey with each other. At least that's how it appeared, but that obviously wasn't the case. Still, Tamaki was always such a gentleman. Yeah, he might not have ever had a girlfriend before, but it seemed like common sense to _not_break up with someone in that way at least. Kyoya just couldn't believe he'd do that, nor could he believe that _he_of all people, the brains of the host club, couldn't even pick up the hints. Tamaki apparently planned it all out secretly enough so that no host would have been able to predict this act of his.

Kyoya, understanding how hurt Haruhi was over all this, was about to begin speaking again to soothe her when she suddenly hugged him back and unintentionally interrupted him, "I can't thank you enough, Kyoya-sempai. This means so much to me that you came and...are trying to make me feel better...please don't ever leave me like he did...I feel so unloved now..."

"No, Haruhi. I swear to you that you are _not_unloved at all. The twins love you, Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai love you, your father loves you to death, and...while I shouldn't really speak for anyone else, I especially love you. I know...that's probably hard for you to believe, but I would _never_ leave you, no matter what. You've helped me so much already, you've opened my eyes so much to the world around me and you've made me open up more as a person...and now let me help you...please."

With those words, he buried his face into her shoulder, trying not to cry himself, and Haruhi's own tears came to a grinding halt. Normally, she would've been in a complete state of shock. Kyoya had just confessed his _love_ to her, for God's sake. She wouldn't have been surprised if she knew that he had recently been drinking, but it definitely would've still shocked her to know that somewhere deep down, he was still dead serious about it as well, drunk or otherwise.

However, right then, she didn't even think too long about how out of character this was for the Shadow King. All she cared about right then was the fact that he was basically showing her that he did actually care about her, and that was all she needed to feel better.

Sniffling as she tightened her own arms around him, she quietly spoke, "Thank you so much, Kyoya-sempai...this means so much to me..."

It was certainly a new feeling to both of them. Not even when Haruhi was with Tamaki did she feel as good as she did in Kyoya's arms. She, unlike how Kyoya had some clue about his feelings for her, obviously didn't know how she really felt about her sempai, nor was she thinking about it at that moment.

But whatever they were feeling right then, they both wanted it to last forever...and neither even realized right then that that night would be their first step in making it last forever...


	3. This Ruined Puzzle

(A/N: I greatly appreciate your guys' reviews and views! It really means a lot to me! I'm sorry that this one took a little longer though. For some reason, this was really hard to write, but I hope it's not too bad. I'm sorry if it might seem like I'm skipping around a lot, but like mentioned before, I don't plan for this fic to drag on too long and I want only the crucial emotional moments to get highlighted.

Also, I have a new poll in my profile and I'd _greatly_ appreciate it if you guys took a minute to take it!)

* * *

**(February 5, 2009,**

**The Moment of Truth...)**

"Hmm, so that's the _entire_story, is it now, Kyoya? I hope you realize how severely you would be punished if I, theoretically, were to ever discover from someone else that your story contains even the slightest trace of dishonesty. The last thing I need is any of my children acting in such a disgraceful manner towards me in any way. However, I trust you completely and will take your story at face value. But have I made myself clear, Kyoya?"

Kyoya knew how to keep a straight face in front of anyone, no matter what situation he was in the middle of. It was simply in his nature to be able to mask his emotions when said situations called for him to act with only the utmost confidence and fortitude. He had always believed that allowing his feelings to slip through was an instant sign of weakness (or at least that's what he had been taught), so he had always made a huge effort in keeping them hidden whenever he deemed necessary.

A prime example of such a situation in which doing so was a pretty good way to go: presenting himself right in front of his father in his office, the day after he fled from what was supposedly a meeting of the utmost importance involving their family...

...And the day after he had made a wrong brushstroke...a _very_ wrong one...one he desperately hoped that his father would never see in the painting...yet here he was again, making another wrong one. A far less severe one, but one that just furthered ruined the painting.

"Yes, sir. That is the entire story," Kyoya spoke with the fakest confidence he could muster up, somehow looking his father straight in the eye. "I honestly had just been aiding a friend who was in dire need and I couldn't leave her until she was okay. I apologize yet again for missing out on your announcement. It is an honor that we are merging with that one company after all..."

As he said that last sentence, Kyoya resisted cringing.

The meeting was about a _merging_ of all the Goddamn things in the universe. Either way, he so badly wanted to curse himself for actually believing a single word that came out of his family's employees' mouths in the first place...he wouldn't have ever committed a single one of his sins in the first place (nor would he currently be doing so either) had he not been so gullible and ran away that night. Oh, how much he wanted to damn them all to hell, as well as himself all at the same time. It was something he couldn't help but feel shameful of.

"...But I digress. Everything I just told you is the truth and nothing but the truth. I apologize again for leaving and not alerting anyone of it again though. But don't worry, Father; I understand your intentions entirely as well."

Kyoya could've sworn that as he stood there, still attempting to brim with false confidence, his father's deathly serious eyes were burrowing into his soul, still looking for some error of his to point out. Being that this was first time Kyoya had ever committed any form of an infraction, Yoshio, though he genuinely believed in his son, still had to wonder about the validity of his story. It sounded like too convenient a time for his supposed friend to suddenly come down with something.

However, what else was he to do when he already accepted what his son claimed to be true?

"Alright, Kyoya," he sighed, pushing up his own glasses as he sat back in his seat, removing his deep focus from his son and placing it back onto the documents he had in front of him on his desk. "Very good. You may leave now. I just don't want to have to confront you like this ever again."

"Yes, sir," Kyoya replied, finding himself grinning at the fact that he actually pulled it all off. Swiftly, but not hastily, his feet carried him out of the office and he carefully shut the door behind him, relieved that this whole confrontation was finally over.

As he made his way back to his room through the mansion's various hallways, he brushed off the curious glances and polite greetings some of the maids gave him as his pace quickened; at that moment, he was wishing that there wasn't such a great distance between his father's office and his own room. As he walked on, he couldn't put his finger on why the maids' acknowledgements made him so nervous all of a sudden, but they all somehow made him feel _extremely_ uncomfortable as he passed each of them. He used all his willpower to resist scolding any of them or replying to them period, pretending not to notice any of their presences.

_'What are they all looking at me for? Don't they have jobs to do?'_ he thought agitatedly to himself. A scowl soon replaced him grin as he thought this. Beads of sweat began running down his skin. Though not physically, he felt like some huge weight was beginning to weigh him down. Again, he just couldn't come to terms with what this sudden feeling was, but he knew that he hated it to no ends.

Finally getting to his room, he immediately felt even more relief as he yanked it open and slammed it behind his back. Upon shutting the door, he found himself just staring at the room in front of him tiredly before walking over to his bed, falling directly on top of it, then rolling over so he could be on his back; while doing so, his mind tried to process what just happened. It was certainly taking its time doing so, but never had he been so desperate to be alone before in his life, cut off from the rest of the world, not being judged by _anyone_ other than himself.

However, that was part of his current agony. He couldn't have been more frustrated with himself if he tried, considering what he just did, along with all the other things he had recently done.

"Oh my God...what on Earth have I done?" he groaned distressfully to himself, staring up at the ceiling in affliction. Within a second, he tore his glasses right off his face and smack his hand over his eyes. "I've never felt so...so..._guilty_before in my life..."

At the mention of that particular word, Kyoya finally realized what was really causing all this distress within him. It was all because of this new emotion...one he had barely ever experienced before in his entire existence. It was quite unusual that it seemed novel to him, but in all honesty, he never had any reason to feel that way before. His entire life, he continuously strived to work his hardest at every single thing he did and never accepted any mistakes or mess-ups. Taking his lifelong goals and his position in his family into consideration, he always knew he couldn't afford to not do any of those things. Trying to exceed his limits and reach perfection was all he had ever done before, so what _was_ there for him to ever feel guilty about?

Well, at this moment in time, the real question began ringing through his head: After yesterday's events, what _wasn't_ there for him to feel guilty about?

"I lied about everything I did last night...I ran away from a crucial meeting I was required to attend...I practically drank myself to death...but worst of all..."

The young Ootori muttered to himself, finding himself confessing everything right then and there to no one in particular. Getting it out in the open like that wasn't helping him in the least. He could feel his breathing becoming more laborious as he removed his hand from his face. He eyed the blurring ceiling in absolute torment, finding it nearly impossible to confess the most heinous of his acts.

"...I lost...my virginity...out of wedlock...to _Haruhi_ of all people. I just can't believe it...my father will _kill me_ if he ever finds out that I committed such a despicable act...and then lied about it to his face. And _Tamaki_...even if he and Haruhi did just break up...and even though _he_ was the one who hurt _her_...I don't even want to think about what he'd do if he finds out either..."

Kyoya could feel his body begin to tremble hard as his guilt began consuming him even more. He didn't even _want_ to imagine how horribly his father would take the news that _he_, of all people, had sex out of wedlock and at such a young age, and with a commoner girl of all people. But regardless of that, even he had enough morals to know how dirty his worst act truly was. It was just not in his nature to behave so inappropriately, despite the fact that he was a bit out of it and it was mainly to alleviate both his _and_Haruhi's sorrows. No matter what the situation was or what it could've possibly been, it was just wrong, and he definitely knew so.

And Haruhi...what about her? How did she feel about it all? Knowing her, Kyoya had a good gut feeling that she probably felt just as bad about it as well. She was the smartest, most honest, most moral girl he ever had the privilege of knowing. Overall, there was just no conceivable way that she would've ever done such a thing either, had she not been wallowing in so much misery that night. Kyoya almost wanted to blame that blonde idiot for causing all of it in the first place, but even he and Haruhi still should've fought against their urges, no matter how miserable the both of them were that night.

While pondering this, Kyoya began to feel his frustration with himself begin to settle down as he closed his eyes in an attempt to relax a bit. Letting out a sigh, he grabbed his glasses, put them back on, and carefully sat up on his bed, using his palms for support.

"It's still so strange though..." he pondered, not feeling nearly as stressed out anymore, but his expression actually became slightly melancholic as something began occurring to him. "Even if I was drunk, I still can't understand...how I allowed my feelings for her to take over so much..."

Now _that_ was an entirely other issue that the Shadow King dreaded to think about. He was far from unaware of his feelings for the cross-dresser and, even to this day, couldn't help but hold onto them, even when she was going out with his so-called best friend.

There were numerous reasons why he fell for her and while he was unwelcome to this unfamiliar sensation, he couldn't help himself. He was beyond enamored with her and had been since he first laid eyes on her. Hell, out of the rest of his idiotic group of friends, he was the first one to realize that she was a _girl_, for God's sake. That had to have given him some points. But in general, there was never any girl he had ever wanted so desperately (or at all) before in his life, and Haruhi seemed to be the only one who was ever able to see past his little facade...

...And more importantly, to him, she was possibly the only one who would ever care for him as a person as much as she did. That was just another one of her numerous admirable qualities, that she was that loyal and caring of a person towards the people that meant something to her.

Feeling a headache coming on (assuming that he didn't have one earlier), Kyoya took off his glasses once more and began massaging his temple, getting only more tired out from pondering all of this miscellaneous information.

"I guess it only makes sense that I would give into those temptations. I'm probably never going to have such an opportunity like that again. Especially since...she'd never reciprocate the same feelings anyway."

As he put his glasses back on, the expression behind them only became gloomier. Kyoya looked sadly down at the fidgeting pair of hands in his lap, trying just not to think about it anymore.

"At this point, I should honestly just be grateful now. I'm glad that I got that opportunity in the first place and took it. I truthfully did enjoy it to a high degree and it's now over and done with. If she ever chooses to bring it up, I'll respond appropriately then, though I'm not really going to have a chance to see her again until her and the twins' graduation though, considering what a busy next two months it is for them. Either way, since I'm now in the clear with my dad now, I should just go on with life and enjoy the memories I have."

With that decision made mentally, Kyoya, with some effort, slowly got up off of his bed and proceeded to his desk, intent on continuing the work that he needed to complete for tomorrow. Booting up his laptop, he shrugged off any other distressful thoughts and pushed them all to the back of his mind as his began typing rapidly, his eyes now glued to the monitor.

_'At least it's all over now. I'll never have to worry about this whole mess ever again with any luck.'_

...Or that's what he had thought right at that moment...but even the great Kyoya Ootori wasn't always right about everything, nor was luck always on his side...

* * *

**(March 14, 2009,**

**White Day/Graduation)**

"Hey! Kyo-chan! It's been months now seen we've last seen you!"

At the sound of a certain boy-lolita's voice, Kyoya found his feet coming to a grinding halt. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he turned around and was somewhat surprised to see his two sempai suddenly coming up to him. As true to Honey's words, it had actually been awhile since he had the pleasure of being able to see them, considering how absorbed in his work he had become (mainly as an attempt to get a certain incident off his mind). Neither had looked too different; Honey was still as small and cute as ever and Mori, who still stayed faithfully by his cousin's side whenever possible, hadn't changed a bit either, not that he of all people needed to grow at all. Both, along with Usa-chan, were dressed in suits just as formal as his own, similar to how they did during balls the host club held.

It wasn't too weird for Kyoya to have run into the two of them, especially now of all times. Having been about a month since that dreadful evening, it was now finally the party after the remaining three hosts' graduation ceremony. (However, after he and Tamaki had graduated, the host club had officially closed its doors for good since the freshman trio weren't too desperate to keep it open, so "former hosts" was a more fitting title.) Once the ceremony had ended, the twins had invited their entire class and several others (including there three upperclassmen) to celebrate in their mansion, which (though it didn't seem possible) looked even more lavish than usual. While Kyoya had met up with the twins to congratulate them on graduating and getting into their desired design school, he had yet to find the former natural type and congratulate her as well for graduating as valedictorian and getting into Ouran U.

However, he was now more focused on his two sempai and refused to think about it at that moment.

"Ah, Honey-sempai, Mori-sempai. It's good seeing you guys as well. I'll admit, it has been some time, hasn't it?" he greeted them, actually showing a slight hint of warmth in his tone as he did so.

"Yeah, I'll say! We've really missed you, Kyo-chan!" Honey replied cheerfully. Mori did so by giving him his signature grunt. Kyoya didn't expect any differently from the two of them. However, he easily noticed Honey's expression turning slightly grim. "I was just wondering though, Kyo-chan...you used to spend the most time with Tama-chan, so...is it true, that he's gone? I've been kinda hoping that guy that he sent was just joking and that he's just been avoiding us for some reason lately..."

That particular question completely caught Kyoya off guard, the surprise evident in his usually serious gray orbs. He could see how sad his sempai apparently felt about their friend's unusual departure, with Mori's usually stoic expression saddening a little as well. From what it seemed, neither wanted to believe what Haruhi told him was true, but Tamaki was definitely not the type to just hide away from them all. Even so, it did anger Kyoya to know that he obviously was one to run away.

"I'm sorry, guys, but unfortunately, that is the case," he replied frowning, trying not to show too much disappointment as well. "Haruhi had told me what happened, and I'm shocked by it as well. I wouldn't have ever expected Tamaki to do such a thing, especially considering how much it had hurt Haruhi to see him go. But he hasn't responded to any of my messages, so I guess all we can do is forget about him and move on with our lives."

"Yeah, I guess so, Kyo-chan. But still, I miss him, even though I feel really bad for Haru-chan. She didn't take it well and when I thought she was starting to feel happy again, she suddenly became kinda gloomy today. I was really hoping that the cake we gave her or the clothes Hika-chan and Kao-chan gave her for White Day would've helped, but I guess not..." Honey said in a small voice, looking down at the floor with his now tear-filled eyes. On the verge of crying, he soon found a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see his cousin looking down at him with equally comforting eyes.

"It'll be okay Mitsukuni. I promise," Mori told him assuringly, attempting to crack something that at least resembled a smile. "I'm sure we'll see Tamaki again one day and sort everything out. Now how about you go get some cake?"

Looking him straight in the eye, Honey couldn't help but feel at least a little better. His his cousin always had a good intuition, so he couldn't have been too off track. Kyoya, however, always claiming to have the ability to see past people's masks, didn't feel nearly as assured, but failed to comment for his sempai's sake.

"Alrighty, Takashi! Hehe! Let's get cake, Usa-chan!" he exclaimed happily, skipping away from the two of them over to where a large amount of food was laid. In a flash, he was already scarfing away at the available cakes, scaring some people while making others squeal over how cute he was.

Still, that didn't keep Kyoya's attention for long. At Honey's departure, he turned back to Mori, locking their gray eyes together in eye contact, to find his expression looking somewhat sad again.

"Do you really think so, Mori-sempai? Tamaki has been avoiding all of my messages since his unexpected departure. It feels like that festival all over again, only this time, his grandmother succeeded," Kyoya said quietly, his voice dripping with disdain for both the blonde and his heartless grandmother, though he couldn't say for sure what made the moron decide to leave this time. That's how sudden his AWOL truly was. Kyoya couldn't even say for sure anymore if he wanted to see him anymore, not after how much he hurt them all.

"I truthfully don't know, but there is a possibility at least, and I don't want Mitsukuni to be upset over this anymore," Mori replied bluntly, trying to make the disppointment in his voice less noticeable.

"That's a good point, Mori-sempai...but anyway, have either you or Honey-sempai seen Haruhi lately? I've been trying to find her for some time."

At the mention of Haruhi, Mori could've sworn the Kyoya's disdainful expression practically melted away in an instant and was replaced by one of anxiousness. He held himself back from commenting (though that wasn't a challenge for _him_of all people), but he and Honey always did suspect something concerning the Shadow King and a certain "tanuki". It was never obvious, just like how Kyoya always tried to keep it, but the two always could pick up certain hints. And just now when he noticed Kyoya rummaging through his pocket to take out a small, neatly wrapped box, his suspicions were only further confirmed.

"Right there."

With those words, Kyoya turned around without hesitation and found himself smiling contently in the direction where Mori pointed. There she was, amist a sea of people, the class valedictorian, looking as good as ever in her suit, mingling with several different kids that were in her class with her old host club smile. Despite what Honey had said not too long ago, she didn't look too upset about anything right then, so Kyoya mentally decided to just take his opportunity before he'd lose her to someone else (in terms of getting to talk to her, of course).

"Thank you, Mori-sempai. I'll see you and Honey-sempai later," he bid him goodbye warmly, turning around to make his way over to the girl.

"Good luck."

At those words, Kyoya stopped immediately in his tracks, a feeling of surprise overtaking him. Slowly turning around towards his sempai again, he only saw him walking casually away from where the two of them were just standing a moment ago. Deep down inside, Kyoya always knew that the former strong and silent type was always pretty perceptive, but...

"...How could he tell...?" Kyoya couldn't help but wonder. So much for not letting others see through his own facades. First there was Tamaki, then Haruhi, and now _Mori_ (and Honey even, unbeknown to him) of all people. "What's wrong with me...? Oh, forget it, I don't have time to wonder right now. I don't want to miss my chance."

Brushing off that thought, he resumed walking towards her, noticing her finishing up her conversation with some girl.

On the one hand, he felt rather nervous about approaching her. This was technically the first time they've really made contact with each other since _that night_, if her sending him homemade candy on Valentine's Day and him thanking her in an e-mail didn't count. He had honestly wanted to see her some time afterwards, and for obvious reasons, but she had been really busy with getting ready for graduation and college, plus, part of him was still scared to approach her. He truthfully still hadn't a clue as to how she felt about that..."thing" they did that night. For all he knew, she might've absolutely hated it and just didn't say so to be polite. Still, on the other hand, she might've loved it just as much as he had. It was times like this when Kyoya wished for mind-reading abilities...

However, despite these feelings of nervousness, his feelings still pushed him towards her anyway and gave him an even greater sense of bliss with each step he took in her direction. Plus, he had a certain little box in his hand that contained her White Day gift from him, so he had a more than plausible excuse to talk to her anyway. Not to mention that now that Tamaki was out of their lives now, there was no more guilt in wanting her anymore.

"Haruhi!" he called out to her once the girl she was previously speaking with had wandered off to somewhere else.

Upon hearing her name, the girl turned around curiously to find the former club VP walking up to her. Immediately, her "natural type" smile vanished, a look of alarm replacing it. She didn't even notice how happy he apparently was to see her; while she was well aware of the possibility that he would show up here tonight, she prayed and prayed that they wouldn't see each other and she made an effort to not stay in one place in the mansion the entire time. That was evidently out the window now.

_'Oh no, this was exactly what I've been trying to avoid all night! I'm not ready to talk to Kyoya-sempai yet! I don't know what the hell I should say to him!'_ she thought uneasily to herself, her empty cup slipping right out of her hand and hitting the tile. (Thankfully, it was paper at least.) Once she snapped at least a little bit out of her shock, she turned around to avoid making eye contact with him and tried walking away slowly without making it seem like she was avoiding him. Unfortunately for her though, she could still hear his footsteps from behind. _'Crap!'_

It wasn't exactly that she had anything against the Shadow King though; she even missed him over the last month since last seeing him. The thing was though, that she, despite not disclosing it to him or anyone else yet, honestly enjoyed the...events...that went on that night as well and was eternally thankful that he was there to comfort her in her state of emotional strife. While she would also admit that she felt incredibly guilty over what they did, she also wanted to move on from it and act like it didn't happen. They both had their lives to move on with, whether her ex was included in them or not, and shouldn't allow what happened to wreck their relationships with each other or anyone else. (She didn't even want to think about anyone else's reaction to what happened between the two of them.) In short, that was just what she wanted to tell him.

However, after making a certain "discovery" earlier that day...she now knew that them forgetting about it all for good was no longer an option. But sadly for her, she hadn't thought up how to drop this information onto him just yet.

"Haruhi, I haven't seen you all night yet and it's been awhile now," Kyoya, catching up to her finally, greeted her amicably. Out of respect, Haruhi stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back around to face him, easily seeing how happy he was to see her for some reason. "I wanted to congratulate you on graduating and getting into Ouran University."

Haruhi noted how out of character he seemed. Sure, she somewhat expected him to enjoy that night as well, but she was, as usual, blissfully unaware of his feelings for her, so him being as happy as he was to see her seemed odd to say the least. But what she hated the most was how soon enough, the rare smile he was wearing this minute would disappear and any feelings of contentment he had would go as well.

"Um, Haruhi, are you alright? You look kind of pale..." Kyoya questioned, looking curiously at Haruhi as she began trembling. It somewhat surprised him; she wasn't exactly the type of girl who got flustered that easily.

"Uh...uh..." Haruhi stuttered, failing at not acting nervous in front of him. She looked up at him to see him looking down on her concernedly. She soon found herself trembling, trying to think of something intelligent to respond to him with. _'Come on, why can't I just make small talk with him? It's not like I have to tell him right now! Come on, Haruhi, you can...oh God.'_

Before Haruhi could even think of anything, she felt what had become a familar feeling come over her, one that was _far_from pleasant. Slapping a hand over her mouth, she forgot about Kyoya completely and bolted away from him. While getting past all the people standing in her way while trying not to be rude, she had been over to the place enough times to remember where the nearest bathroom on the ground floor was. It was greatly to her advantage to know now, especially considering her current "condition".

_'Aw man! Why did this have to happen now of all times? What if he suspects something now?'_ she thought fearfully as she sprinted, a wave of relief coming over her once she finally found herself in front of the bathroom door.

Without wasting anymore time, she tore the door open, ran over to the toilet, threw its lid up, and began upchucking nearly everything she had eaten that day. It was certainly not an enjoyable feeling. It didn't matter that it had become an almost regular occurrence recently; it wasn't any less painful or unpleasant now than the other dozen times she had recently done it. Maybe going for the ootoro tonight, even if it was her graduation ceremony, wasn't the best idea, since her stomach didn't seem to agree with fish lately. It was moments like this that made her regret sleeping with Kyoya in the first place. She knew how wrong it was, despite how much she enjoyed it, and she was definitely paying for it now.

Clutching her stomach (which was still flat for the time being), she heaved the rest of the vomit that was coming out of her throat, began breathing heavily, and fought against the urge to cry. After having made her recent "discovery", it all made sense now at least as to why she had been puking so much lately, but she couldn't have hated it more, even if she tried. She was shocked at herself for pulling through today of all days, with the ceremony and giving a valedictorian speech and all, but it was only a matter of time before reality would sink into her head and she wouldn't be able to hold back the tears anymore.

"Haruhi, what's going on? You scared me half to death."

At the sound of his voice, she nearly felt more bile come up her throat again. However, her anxiety died down when she suddenly felt him massaging her back gently and speaking softly to her in attempt to soothe her further. Just like that evening, she could appreciate those moments when he was there for her and acted uncharacteristically sensitive. But right now, she didn't think about it for too long. She was more concerned about wiping her mouth off and coming up with something believable to tell him as an excuse for this little incident.

"I...it's okay, Kyoya-sempai. I'm sorry for scaring you..." she muttered, taking the towel he held in front of her and wiping the remaining vomit off of her mouth.

"Are you okay, Haruhi? Was it something you ate? Whatever it was, it just seemed unusual. You're not usually one who gets ill so easily. Do you think you've possibly just been stressing yourself out a bit lately?" he asked her, crouching down lower to her level, pushing some of her disheveled hair out of her face. While he would deny it in front of anyone else, he was genuinely concerned about what the hell just happened. Somehow, he of all people didn't have a clue about what it could've been, but Haruhi was more than relieved about that fact.

"Y-yeah, I guess that must be it. I guess I should just use my time off before university to relax for a bit though..." she laughed nervously, crouching on the floor and tossing the towel into the trash basket next to her. Turning around, she could see how worried he looked as his eyes bore into her. "But, um, Kyoya-sempai..." Kyoya saw how her own expression became doleful as she spoke each word "With what you were saying about Ouran earlier...I...I've decided not to go to Ouran...or any local university actually. I'm sorry for not telling you guys earlier..."

At that statement, Kyoya's eyes widened in surprise. However, he wasn't sure whether this news made him more surprised or more disappointed...


	4. Hands Down

(A/N: So…I'll be frank right now: any excuse/apology/explanation I could possibly give would pretty much sound like crap. To put it in short, I honestly am sorry to anyone who actually liked this story all that much and was eagerly awaiting an update. I can sincerely give my word that I will try to update as much as I can when I'm in the right mindset and not doing summer school trigonometry homework. (Don't worry, I didn't fail anything; it's for my GPA and to get into AP Calculus next year.) Also, I do realize how similar this fic kinda is to _HS,HT,KW_, so I've been a little doubtful about it over the last few months, but I'm trying harder now and I'm hoping that it's still something worth your guys' time.)

* * *

"_**NO!**_"

Haruhi, along with her two drastically calmer sempai, couldn't help but ponder how the twins' and Honey's nearly deafening wails didn't shatter her eardrums. But regardless, their screams were more than ear-splitting enough to make a child cry. (To Haruhi, that sort of analogy was somewhat ironic.) She knew that she should have expected this kind of reaction from those three, though it didn't hurt to wish for the best in revealing her new plans for college.

That being said, her wish was far from granted upon her dropping the bomb on her friends.

"Guys, please calm down. It's not as if I've contracted some fatal disease or something," she attempted to reason with them, shooting them her best apologetic look from across the table the six former host club members were all seated at. She honestly did feel horrible about all of this, especially since she wasn't being completely honest with all of them. Unfortunately, she still didn't have the strength to confide her entire story in them. Not yet anyway.

"No! We don't want you to move, Haruhi! We'll be _**so **_lonely without you! Things will _**never**_ be the same _**ever**_ again!" the twins sobbed into their handkerchiefs, desperate to convince her to forget her plans and stay at Ouran U like she originally wanted. While they wouldn't be necessarily attending the same school as her, they could more than easily hang out around Ouran in their free time and were excited to at least have the chance to see her at those times. However, that was obviously out the window now.

"It's true, Haru-chan!" Honey cried, suddenly popping up out of nowhere next to where she sat, tugging on her pant leg while looking up at her with his big, teary, brown eyes. She looked down at him, not being able to help her expression from becoming even more remorseful than it already was. "It's bad enough that Tama-chan's gone, now you're going _too?_ We'd miss you so much, Haru-chan, and we love you!"

Haruhi swore that she could feel a billion more daggers fly right through her heart as she watched her friends continue to sulk. Damn them for not even trying to make this whole thing any less painful than it already had been, and she could especially damn Honey for bringing up the idiot.

Considering all that she had on her mind, he was one of the last people she wanted to worry about anymore. While it had been heartbreaking, it was getting easier to go on with life without him, especially since he still wouldn't respond to anyone's calls or messages. It eventually got to the point in which everyone began to act as if he wasn't involved in their lives any longer. If he wanted to abandon them, they he could've gone to hell for all they cared. While they couldn't bring themselves to _completely _hate him (not even Kyoya), there was no point in making futile attempts to reconnect with him anymore.

A couple weeks after the whole incident, Haruhi finally found the strength to get back up on her feet and realized that while she would always care for him, she had been hurt too badly by him to keep dwelling on the past any longer. If he wanted to be an asshole and leave her like that, then fine, but it would be his problem, not hers or anyone else's. She had stuffed anything that reminded her of him into a box and tossed it into the nearest closet, bent on getting on with her life and focusing on other things at hand.

And did she have some other things at hand to focus on _now_.

Grimacing at the three of them, she tried her best to stay composed, but it was getting more and more difficult. She could thank God that everyone else was gone and that it was only the six of them left hanging out in one of the Hitachiin mansion's _many_ sitting rooms, otherwise she'd also have to deal with the cries of her ever obsessive fan girls, something she didn't dare try to envision.

"Mitsukuni, calm down already and let her go. Hikaru, Kaoru, the same goes for you too. All of you are overreacting," Mori, though still in a slight state of shock himself, stated firmly, shooting daggers all three of their ways. Exhaling heavily out of relief as the three of them complied, Haruhi smiled her sempai's way somewhat uneasily, but still thankful for having at least one consistently sane friend.

"Fine, we can calm down and all, but we can still be upset about it!" Hikaru whined and crossed his arms immaturely after he and Kaoru discarded their hankies to who-knows-where, earning an eye-rolling from his twin. Old habits apparently die hard.

"_Anyway_…Haruhi, the main reason we're upset about this is because it just doesn't make any sense. You've been dead set on attending Ouran and staying put as opposed to going somewhere as far away as Boston. It seems weird that you've suddenly decided to "expand your horizons" just as we graduated, and without even talking about it with us," Kaoru said solemnly, the worry evident in his voice.

"Yeah, Haru-chan. This was kinda unexpected and now we're all sad that you're already planning on leaving next week for a spring session, especially since you should take a break before starting college. And the worst part is that we won't even get to see you until the fall!" Honey exclaimed sadly, getting back into his seat next to his cousin. Though calmed down, he still kept his sorrow-filled gaze on his friend, who couldn't help but look shamefully down at her fidgeting hands in her lap. It was getting harder and harder to make eye contact with them and stop her impending tears from falling.

She hadn't had any mood swings as of yet, but she feared the possibility of that changing at this moment.

"We will really miss you, Haruhi. I can tell that this can't be easy for you though. You seem to be getting tenser, even though there's no reason for you to act so nervous around us," Mori commented, staring sternly at her, making a note of her apparent nervous habits. While he seemed to want to make her feel more comfortable, it didn't have much of an effect.

"I know guys. I really am sorry about all this," she apologized profusely. While she had already done so a number of times to them, she wanted to get her sincerity across to them as much as she could. "I hate that I'm hurting all of you like this, but…I…"

Haruhi suddenly found her tongue completely tied up and began breathing uneasily, her sudden shaking and whimpering making her tears to slowly begin running down her cheeks. In her head, she tried to come up with a way to finish as rapidly as possible, but she felt herself become overcome with more and more guilt. As much as she had been avoiding it all night, she desperately wanted to tell them all the truth about what was going on. She hated that she was moving away from them to begin with. However, what was worse was that she completely _lied_ to them about her primary reasons for going.

"But Haruhi-"

Before Kaoru could even get another comforting word out, she suddenly shot right up out of her seat, her chair crashing against the marble flooring behind her. To say that everyone nearly jumped out of their skin in even more shock was an understatement; they gaped as they watched her slam her fists against the table, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry guys, but I can't handle this anymore! You're all putting so much pressure on me just because of my decision and I can't take any longer! You're my friends; you're all supposed to support my decisions, not try to talk me out of them! Why are you doing this to me? I thought you guys cared about me!" she cried out, looking down at all of them fiercely, her tears flowing out rapidly. This was exactly what she didn't want to happen, but the new hormones seemed to overpower any willpower she tried exerting.

Suffice to say that everyone else had a hard time from keeping their eyes from bugging out or keeping their jaws off of the floor. Taking her usually calm, subdued nature into consideration, they couldn't believe that _she_ of all people would ever have such a dramatic, emotional outburst. Even they could admit that they were being a bit pushy and selfish in response to her announcement, but it was still a shock to see her act out in such a manner unlike her usual self. As much as any one of the yearned to calm her down, she once again didn't give them enough time to take a chance.

"You know what? Just forget it. I'm out of here," she whimpered quietly as her sobs began to die down a little bit.

After briefly catching a glimpse at where her tears had fallen on the table, she swallowed hard and bolted out of the room, trying to make her way out of the manor as quickly as possible. She could clearly hear her friends yelling for her to come back, but she easily resisted turning around. She halted to take her shoes off just as she was ready to burst through the front door, her weeping returning as she began losing breath from her fatigue.

'_Why? What did I ever do to them? I'd never do anything to stop them from doing something that was important to them!' _she screamed in her head, feeling sorry for herself for what she was sure was the first time in her entire life, but she didn't care.

Feeling as emotionally torn as she did, she didn't even consider for one minute how overly sensitive and irrational she was acting. She had never found herself in such a distressed mentality before and didn't know how else to act when these feelings suddenly came crashing down on her. Then again, it wasn't as if she had ever found herself in her current "state" before either.

As she made her way across the driveway and blasted out of the gate, she was ready to rush right into the limo intent on taking her home, but she gasped to herself and went wide-eyed as she came to an abrupt stop, feeling something (or _someone_) taking a firm hold on her wrist.

"_Haruhi!_" that same someone shouted firmly, getting as good a grasp on her wrist as possible, just barely catching up to her before she made it to the side of the road where her limo was parked.

As he caught her, their feet slid against the pavement as they simultaneously came to a rough stop. Haruhi found her body freezing up on her as she felt his eyes burning right into her back. It didn't take a genius like her to know who it was.

She could recognize that voice anywhere. It was the same one that, weirdly enough, didn't speak a word a minute ago during her announcement. The same one that always spoke of benefit and success. The same one that brought up her debt time and time again in high school. The same one that constantly referred to her ex as an idiot. The same one that comforted her when she was emotionally at an all time low.

The same one that also whispered sweet nothings into her ear when she lost her virginity.

It was also the one that belonged to the man that was, at least partially, responsible for why she was moving away in the first place.

"K…Kyoya-sempai…" she whispered fearfully, but still loud enough for him to hear well enough.

She could hear his low panting from behind as she hesitantly turned around. Behind her, the infamous Shadow King was staring at her darkly as he was catching his breath. Never mind how menacing he must have appeared to her right then; she was already nervous enough to see him at all that night in the first place. Part of her was somewhat surprised to see him come after her, but after _that_ night, she guessed that she wouldn't be surprised to see him act caring towards her since he apparently did hold concern for her.

Even more guilt began to consume her as she just stood there mute.

"Sempai, I…I'm sorry…I hate that I'm doing this to you guys…a huge part of me really doesn't want to go either…" she muttered, her waterworks beginning to somewhat dry up. She sniffled as she tried keeping her eyes locked on him; he could even sense the difficulty she faced in holding this one conversation with him, if it could even be called one.

"Then why are you packing up and moving practically halfway across the globe all of a sudden?" he asked her bitterly, grabbing hold of her shoulders as if he was keeping his prey trapped with no escape. His expression softened just a little bit, but still displayed his feelings of impatience and disapproval of what she was doing.

"Kyoya-sempai, I…I…"

"Haruhi, please. I know that for a fact that there must be another reason behind this departure of yours that you refuse to tell us. I mean, you haven't been acting like yourself this evening, getting sick, acting so tense around me, and having breakdowns like the one you just had. Just be honest with me, Haruhi; what the hell is causing you to abandon us now too? Tamaki might be idiotic enough to leave without a true incentive, but I know for a fact that you're better than him. Just tell us."

As Haruhi kept staring at him in anguish, she found herself choking on her own words. How desperately she just wanted to scream out the truth of the matter to save them from the awkward position they were both in. Sadly though, she still felt more than determined enough to keep her secret hidden for as long as possible (even if it meant forever) and couldn't find the courage to just get it all over with. She never thought that she of all people would have so much trouble just telling the truth until now.

"I'm so sorry, sempai, but…there's really nothing else for me to tell you or any of the others. I've told you guys pretty much everything." Looking down at her feet, she realized that it was still too hard for her to just tell him right then, but lying didn't feel that much easier.

"…Alright, Haruhi." Haruhi would be lying even more if she said she wasn't caught off guard when he actually let go of her, exhaling exasperatedly. She saw how defeated he looked as he carefully took off his glasses right there and massaged his temple. "While I'm not convinced that this conversation is nearly over yet, I won't bug you anymore tonight. However…"

She watched as he put his glasses back on and begin walking back towards the mansion, leaving her to stand there baffled. It wasn't like him of all people to walk away from something (or even someone) he wanted badly enough.

"If you decide to never tell me or any of the others about what's going on yourself, it's not difficult for me to obtain information on _any_ subject I desire to know about. Just keep that in mind in case you still don't feel like telling us the whole truth."

With those last words, Kyoya, taking one last anguished look at her from the doorway, was just about to re-enter the mansion, but not before discreetly fishing a small box out of his pocket and casually tossing it her way without a single sentence of explanation. That action alone caught her off guard even more.

Just barely catching it, she kept her hands tightly around it as she examined it curiously. It was simply a small white box with a color-coordinated ribbon tied neatly around it. Taking the date into consideration, she figured it must've been his White Day present; the others had give theirs (all of which were a bit extravagant for her) earlier that day. Sighing, she slowly and gingerly removed the ribbon and removed the box's lid.

Gazing at it in amazement, she never expected that he would go so far to get her such a breathtakingly gorgeous necklace. It was pure, authentic silver, going down to the center of her chest with a modestly-sized amethyst in the center and a couple tiny diamonds set on each side of it. It was very classy, but nowhere near outrageous or expensive-looking to her. She couldn't help but let her jaw hang open as she held the necklace closer to her eyes, looking at it in even more depth. It was hands down the most beautiful gift she had ever received.

But unfortunately for her, when she looked up at where she last saw him, she frowned at seeing that he had already disappeared back into the building.

Haruhi, on the verge of breaking down once again, felt not just daggers, but a billion bullets go through her chest this time. Wanting to act quickly (and realizing that another one of them could pop out any minute now), she got enough of a hold of herself to bolt into the limo that was already started up, ready to take her to what she was hoping would be the serene comfort of her home where she could finally relax after the day's events. Even that didn't seem like too much to ask for in her opinion…

* * *

"Finally, the day's over! And good grief, I've never wanted to go to bed so badly before in my life. How ridiculous."

Feeling a humongous wave of relief finally wash over her, the pajama-clad Haruhi groaned to herself as she flipped her bedroom's light switch, climbed into her bed, and tried her hardest to get comfortable underneath the covers. She was glad that Ranka hadn't gotten home yet, so she was able to get ready for bed as soon as she got home. She really didn't want to have to deal with Ranka and him crying over how she had graduated and was going to leave him anymore than she had before she even really graduated. As she lay in her bed, she felt more than tired enough to fall right to sleep.

But unfortunately, her thoughts pertaining to all the mishaps that have been going on prevented her from falling asleep easily (or at all)...

…especially one mishap in particular that she knew was going to affect her for as long as she would live.

"Dammit, I wish I could just clear my head and rest," she exclaimed, sitting up in her bed and holding her head in her hands distressfully. "But still…how can I really expect myself to be able to sleep, especially since I just found out that I'm actually..._pregnant_…and considering what I'm doing tomorrow…" She couldn't help but frown at this thought, but she was now officially sick of crying and tried even harder to stop the tears from falling anymore.

After she turned on the lamp on the nighstand next to her bed in irritation, her big chocolate eyes gazed down at a particular object that was sitting on it. Hesitantly picking it up, she examined it closely just to make sure that what was going on was for real and not just her imagination.

Her heart sunk lower as she confirmed in her head that she was, in fact, gazing at a pink plus sign.

It had been that morning when, in a desperate attempt to diagnose whatever bug she seemed to have, she bolted to the nearest drug store to buy the test. She didn't seriously believe it'd be true; there was a number of possibilities as to why she had been puking so frequently as of late or why she was getting so tired. But alas; she figured it was some sort of a punishment for acting so carelessly, even if she was emotionally unstable when she and Kyoya did "it".

Needless to say, she wanted to drop dead at that moment. She had already gone through enough turmoil with the Tamaki issue; this new development wasn't helping her cause at all. Straight out of high school and she was already knocked up before she even really graduated. With all the goals that they were both desperately striving towards, she knew for a fact that there was no way they'd have enough time for a baby of all things (or people, technically). She didn't even want to try to imagine going to school while taking care of one at the same time. It just wasn't something she could ever imagine happening to her and it certainly was _not_ part of her plan, at least not until she was _much_ older, married, and with a stable job. Ranka barely made enough money to support two people, let alone three. There was no question about it; she knew she was far from ready to actually be a good mother.

Along with that, she knew that Kyoya wasn't exactly the warmest, most caring person in the world. While she figured that he'd probably want children eventually for the sake of having an heir for himself, she didn't know if he would really enjoy the prospect of (or do a proficient job at) being a father, especially with the current circumstances. She also knew how obsessed he was with impressing his own father and that there was barely time for anything else in his life these days. Never mind having no chance of taking over the Ootori Group, who knew how else Yoshio would punish him for this. If he thought Kyoya being in the host club was bad, Haruhi didn't want to know his reaction to _this _of all things.

Everything Kyoya had ever worked for would definitely go down the drain either way. Haruhi knew that she would never want to do that to him. As sinister and greedy as he was, he was still her friend and he had helped her out so much as it was. She wouldn't allow this to happen if she could help it.

"And that's why…I have to get rid of it…there's just no other option," she whispered to herself dolefully.

After wiping her face for any tears that might have escape, she looked down hesitantly at her stomach, where her _and _Kyoya's baby was growing, and comfortingly put her hands over it. She was starting to come to acceptance that this was all real, but it still seemed unbelievable. Even though she hadn't been aware of the baby's existence for all that long, she knew that she felt some connection with it already, which made her decision only more heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry that I'm doing this to you," she spoke softly to it as if the fetus could hear her. She found her breathing become shaky as she tried to control her emotions, but she wasn't too shocked when she lost her battle against them once again and found her tears running down her face.

"I'm so sorry, but I have to…and Kyoya-sempai will never have to know…"

* * *

**(March 15, 2009)**

Despite what most would expect, Kyoya Ootori, though accustomed to the pleasure of being driven around in only the nicest limos his father's money could buy, did actually know how to drive and often liked to drive himself to his destinations, even owning four different vehicles for himself alone. However, unlike most young adults his age, he wasn't one to become distracted easily and, say, pick up his phone while trying to navigate a busy highway.

With that thought in mind, when a certain name in particular lit up on his phone one afternoon while he was driving around in his own black BMW, he didn't hesitate for one second to flip it open immediately.

'_It's just one call after all. I'm on an easy-going road anyway. Not to mention how important this call is,'_ he reasoned in his head as he kept his eyes on the road while grabbing his found at the same time. He was a good multi-tasker after all, though he had never done something like this before now.

"Ikumi, what's the update?" he asked the one particular officer who was calling him up.

There was no doubt about it; he was far from kidding when he told Haruhi he was capable of finding out things he wanted to know. With the help of his police force, it took not even a few hours to have a number of officers scouted around the city, looking out for Haruhi at every waking moment they could if it meant helping out Kyoya's cause. He wanted to respect her privacy to a degree, but he was beyond smart enough to realize that something was definitely going on with her and wanted to, in his own weird way, show his concern for her. He was not letting her off as easily as she might have hoped, going as far as allowing the officers to stalk her if they had to. (Control freak much?)

"Sir, I had just received notice that Miss Fujioka should actually be arriving at a corner of the intersection you're currently approaching. It's on your left and there should be a plaza around, so keep your eyes peeled for any store she might go into."

Kyoya couldn't help but grin to himself. His original destination (which was a restaurant he was meeting the others, minus Haruhi, at) could wait. He knew that his family's officers would come in handy in this situation, and they've certainly proven to be so. It wasn't so much that he wanted to stalk her as much as he simply wanted to get her alone with himself and get the truth out of her. He really didn't want to have to take it this far, but he was more than desperate to get the truth out of her and put his conscience at ease. No matter how much he might have fought against them before, his feelings still dominated a part of him and as much as he hated it, he had come to realize that now more than ever, they weren't going away.

All the more reason he wanted to help her, even if his tactics were a bit questionable.

"Thank you very much. I'll watch out for her. I have to go now," he replied curtly, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

He didn't want to be rude, but he wanted off as quickly as possible, since he was driving after all. He was approaching the intersection when the light suddenly turned red, which somewhat aggravated him, but at least he was at the front of the lane and had a decent view of the plaza Ikumi was referring to.

"What could possibly be here that's so interesting to her…?" he pondered, scanning the small shopping center as he waited for the light to turn. There wasn't much besides two cheap restaurants, a pet store, a good will store, and a few other places that he couldn't easily identify from where his car was situated. He was sure one of them looked like a doctor's office, but he wasn't positive about it.

However, whatever it was, it was the place that kept his attention, since he, not too clearly, could see a certain petite brunette walking towards it.

"Yes, I've got her now." He smirked to himself as he caught sight of Haruhi, who he noticed was still looking quite gloomy and for some reason seemed hesitant to go in, but that was beside the point. All he needed now was to get through the intersection and he would be able to get to the office and wait outside for her without her even seeing it coming.

But all of a sudden, he could see his phone's screen lighting up once again, and once again, it was Ikumi. Raising an eyebrow at it, he slowly took it out of the cup holder and flipped it open.

"What's going on now?" he asked sternly, not wanting to waste anymore time if he didn't have to. _'I have all the information I need, so what's he want now?'_

"Um, sir…this might sound just a bit awkward, but…I thought that since the sign isn't the most visible…" Kyoya wasn't entirely sure why Ikumi suddenly sounded so awkward talking, but he just rolled his eyes in response and kept his ears open, expecting whatever he was about to say to be next to nothing. She _was _just going into a doctor's office after all. (Not an Ootori one, to his chagrin, but it wasn't as if she could afford to go to one anyway.)

Unluckily for Kyoya though, it was far from "nothing".

"…I just thought I'd let you know that the place Miss Fujioka is heading into is the abortion clinic in the shopping center. Just thought I'd let you know in case you missed her going in."

The second after Ikumi had uttered the words "abortion clinic", a series of different events occurred that created a chain that ultimately affected Kyoya Ootori in the worst ways possible:

First, out of shock from realizing that Haruhi was going into an abortion clinic, Kyoya felt his entire body freeze up. Normally, he would've begun pondering all the possibilities of what this could mean, though it was more than obvious, but he didn't have enough time to truly think about it.

Next, as the light finally turned green, he was still too much in shock to notice. Without truly realizing that Kyoya wasn't moving at all, the person behind him, becoming quite impatient, nearly floored his car, thereby rear-ending Kyoya's BMW. The force of the collision was enough to push the BMW out into the intersection. At that point, Kyoya began to become more conscientious of what was going on, but that didn't make a difference in the end.

Lastly, an idiotic driver coming into the intersection from the left attempted to speed through his own red light and ended up nailing the BMW right in its left side without warning.

As a result, Kyoya wasn't able to catch Haruhi before she left the clinic that day, though that was now the least of his worries…


	5. Bend and Not Break

(A/N: Well…not much to really say here, other than I hope you guys have been liking this so far! Also, and I promise not to say it again, please review if you have a moment! It'd really mean a lot to me to hear your thoughts!)

* * *

**(January 27, 2010 [present day],**

**Renge's Cosplay Café)**

Renge couldn't resist grinning mischievously as she rapidly punched numbers into her calculator with the pencil in her right hand while glancing every other second at her laptop's screen. She was more than pleased with the numbers she read off in her head as she kept adding them all up, confirming that this month's profits were vastly overtaking those of last month and all the ones before. It certainly looked as if business was booming, regardless of how ridiculous said business truly was.

But then again, with Renge involved, _everything _was almost always a bit ridiculous to begin with…

"Ha ha _ha!_ This is perfect! With these profits, I'll be able to afford that life-sized Edward statue I've been dying to add to the café's décor!" she exclaimed excitedly, clicking on a link that sent her to the EBay page where said statue was being auctioned off. "Haruhi was right about the café becoming overrun with animé memorabilia and decorations, but it is about time to trash that old Goku one anyway. Plus, it's not as if the Ed one will take up that much space."

She couldn't help but snicker at her lame pun, but got over it and quickly placed her bid in just as the bidding clock was running out. She of all people knew it wasn't the sort of possession that would stick around for long, especially since the statue's hair and eyes were pure, authentic _gold_. She also knew how much crap Haruhi would give her for wasting away their profits in such a way, but she couldn't have cared less if it meant satiating her ever-growing obsession, which had yet to diminish since high school. Haruhi, though slightly distressed by her boss, could only figure that some things really don't change.

Speaking of Haruhi…

"Renge!"

Renge, after having attended school with her for three years and then worked with her the last ten months, had come to learn her voice well enough, especially if it was filled with rage (which, at such a café, was often enough).

"Oh, crap!" she squealed, the pencil in her hand hitting the floor as she turned to stone.

Acting as quickly as possible, she clicked the Ebay page closed as soon as she got her bid in and slammed her laptop closed, folding her hands over it and plastering on the smile of a good, _normal, _and not to mention _sane_ café manager. While it was hard to fool Haruhi of all people, it didn't hurt to at least try.

"Come in, Haruhi!" she responded cheerfully. However, upon Haruhi slamming the door open, pushing it closed just as hard, and wasting no time marching to the front of Renge's desk, Renge's faux exuberance died right at the drop of a hat.

It was no secret that Haruhi wasn't exactly fond of working in a cosplay café of all places, but she didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, especially considering what Renge paid her and how badly she needed the money for Kyoko. It wasn't always grueling though; more often than not, Renge simply had her do accounting or inventory, which proved more enjoyable for someone as hardworking and intelligent as Haruhi. But on occasion, Renge did have to force her into maid cosplay should a usual waitress be out. It was far from fun, but Haruhi knew how to suck it up. The worst usually just consisted of prancing around in a ridiculously frilly, girly uniform for a few hours and nothing more…

…which was why Renge wasn't too surprised to see a maid uniform-clad Haruhi fuming mad with her face coated with cream topping from a pie that, according to Haruhi, was thrown in the midst of a food fight started by a bunch kids.

"Renge…" Haruhi, uncomfortably taking a seat in front of the desk in her skimpy attire, hissed as she began wiping her face with a towel a fearful Renge handed her. (Where the towel came from is a mystery.) "I understand that this _is_ a business and that it's important to keep customers happy, but this has gone on for too long. Whenever kids have birthday parties here, I seem to always get caught in the crossfire when they suddenly decide to have pie fights. Not only does that irritate me on numerous levels, it dirties the place in unimaginable ways. I mean, I know _I'm_ not the one cleaning it up, but it's still senseless that you allow this to persist."

As Haruhi's evident aggravation began to die down a bit, Renge, after attempting to look interested in what she was saying for a minute before getting bored, found herself rolling her eyes. It wasn't as if Haruhi hadn't brought this "issue" up before, and she had nothing she could really tell her besides the usual:

"How many times do I have to tell you? Kids need to be allowed to go crazy and act out when they're young, Haruhi!" she asserted, standing up dramatically all of a sudden. "They can't just act well-behaved _all_ the time; they need to have fun and act daring while they're still in their primary years! They're not at that point in their lives in which they're required to be responsible yet, so why not let them take advantage of that? They need to _live_ for God's sake! As long as they're not breaking any laws, they should be allowed to do whatever they want if it makes them happy! That's what my dad let me do and look at me now! I'd think _you_ of all people would understand! Don't any of those parenthood books teach you _anything?_ This is exactly the kind of thing Kyoko needs to experience while she's still young you know!"

Haruhi could readily recall Renge going on a similar spiel before, but she couldn't help but narrow her eyes in her direction anyway, considering how ridiculous the otaku sounded.

"Renge, I wouldn't need any book to tell me that letting your child make a mess of a public restaurant in such a destructive manner is wrong; that just seems like common sense to me," Haruhi sighed, letting go of her annoyance with her boss. "You can believe whatever you want and allow kids to make a mess of your café if you so desire, but I'd prefer to not get stuck with waitressing duty on party days from now on, thank you very much. And I'm sorry, but I'd prefer to raise my own daughter how I see fit. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go clean up now."

With that, Haruhi got up out of her seat and, after returning the towel, began making her way out of the office to go to the bathroom.

"Fine then, Haruhi; I just hope that your cute little Kyoko doesn't end up a stick in the mud like you have. While I still don't know anything about her dad, I sure as hell hope that he's different enough from you."

Renge pouted in Haruhi's direction as the door shut closed. She knew that there was no point in trying to convince Haruhi otherwise, but it never hurt to try. They were stuck with each other for a couple more months, but then Haruhi would be free when classes for the next college term would be starting. With excitement consuming her once again, she smiled wickedly as she quickly pulled her laptop screen back up and re-booted the machine in hopes that she hadn't been out-bid yet.

Meanwhile, after trying to get through the main dining area of the café without getting bombarded with even more pies, Haruhi successfully made her way to the bathroom. These kinds of mishaps thankfully weren't too frequent, but they weren't fun for her in the least.

As she tiredly approached a sink, she grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser, wetted them, and wiped her face again for any bits of cream residue or stickiness she might have missed earlier. She didn't want to adhere to any other customers looking like such a mess after all, but considering the current excitement going on in the main dining area, she figured it best to just hang tight in the bathroom for a few more minutes and take her time washing up.

"Good grief. I never would've imagined that I'd miss being on maternity leave so much. I mean, I get that kids want to have a good time and all, but it seems just a little too barbaric for my tastes," she groaned as she did a full-body check in the mirror. She couldn't help but grimace at how girly she looked in her "uniform". "And as young as she is, I would never think for a minute that Kyoko would find something like a pie fight all that fun, especially considering how much she takes after Kyoya-sempai; but it's not as if I could tell that to Renge…or most people even."

Examining her body straight on, Haruhi stood still in front of the mirror for a moment in silence, her impatience finally worn away. But she couldn't help but frown at her reflection as she fell deep into thought, which she found herself doing more often with all the things that had gone on the past year.

"Man…even after so long, I still can't believe this is real sometimes…" she sighed as she began gripping the edges of the sink in slight distress. "A year ago, I would've envisioned that at this moment a year later, I'd be in some class at Ouran working towards my Bachelor's, not working in a _cosplay café _of all places. But…"

As she felt her frustration with herself drain her energy even further, she felt the need to turn away from the mirror. Not out of modesty, but out of shame more so.

"…While I'll hopefully be able to live out that vision soon enough, it's not like I'm doing this for no reason. I made the decision to keep Kyoko and it's my job as her mother to provide for her the best I can. I don't want her to have to live through the same pain I did from not having mine around.

Plus…I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I didn't have her…"

* * *

**(Back to March 15, 2009,**

**A random women's clinic in Bunkyo)**

Of all the people in the world, Haruhi was definitely one that had approached numerous obstacles and challenges throughout her life that, as expected, were much more than just stressful or nerve-wracking to say the least. She lost her mother when she was five, began doing all of the household chores since, was forced to take care of her low wage-earning and occasionally alcoholic (though well-meaning) father, worked hard to stay at the top of her class her entire school life, worked even harder to maintain her Ouran scholarship, stayed in the host club and dealt with the ever so eccentric host club boys in order to pay off her substantially high debt, and of course, suffered the most painful break-up one could ever imagine going through.

However, as she sat ever so anxiously in the doctor's office, answering various questions concerning her health, trying so hard not to allow her emotions to take control, she realized that none of those experiences even slightly compared. She could easily say that the most distressful and nerve-wracking experience she had ever faced was (or would be) having her own child aborted so willingly.

'_Calm down already, Haruhi. This is what you have to do, okay? It's for the best, you know. Neither you nor Kyoya-sempai can deal with a baby right now. You're only eighteen and you're not even dating the father, let alone married to him. There'd be no way you could go to Boston if you keep it, or even if you wanted to give it up for adoption. Plus, Dad doesn't make enough money for you to support it, which is the whole reason why this abortion is considered legal at least. Look, it just wouldn't work out no matter what you could do. It just wouldn't!'_ she kept scolding herself in her head as the gynecologist, who wore what Haruhi wanted believe was a genuine smile, was scribbling something down on a clipboard.

She found it a bit hard to believe that anyone with this job had the ability to smile, but she didn't look at her for too long, mainly because she was more often looking down at her twiddling thumbs out of nervousness instead.

Needless to say, she wasn't very fond of the idea of abortion to begin with, but for the various reasons she kept listing off in her head, she kept trying to talk herself into believing that it was the right thing to do. It proved to be far from easy to go through, but what else could she do? This wasn't a dilemma she wanted to deal with anymore if she didn't have to, so what better way to eliminate the problem then by _literally_ eliminating it?

But sadly, there was still a little part of her that made her feel guilt-ridden about the whole ordeal. Regardless of the situation's circumstances, she still felt horrible for going through this, especially without Kyoya's consent. Unfortunately though, that little part of her wasn't enough to convince her otherwise; she didn't even want to go through the pain of dropping the bomb on him if she didn't have to as well.

"Alright, Miss Fujioka; we're finished up with questions now," the doctor said brightly, setting her clipboard down on the counter. "You seem more than ready now to undergo the procedure, but before we can do that, we have to do an ultrasound in adherence to the clinic's policies."

Haruhi could feel her heart shatter even more just from that statement alone. It wasn't enough that she was confident in that the baby was actually there; its image had to be shoved right in her face first, which she knew would just make it all the more harder.

'_Come on, Haruhi, just stay strong through this. You've gone through pain your whole life; how on Earth is this any different?'_ she thought worriedly as she lay down on the reclined chair she had been sitting on and pulled her shirt back.

From that point, she could only watch in suspense as the sonographer who entered the room not even two seconds ago applied the gel to her midsection and proceeded to scan the transducer over it in search of the fetus. To Haruhi, it seemed like it was all racing before her eyes, going faster than she could really keep up with. She began dreading this part more than the actual abortion; it felt harder to breathe as she stared at the ceiling in agony. If looks could kill, the ceiling would've crumbled by then.

'_Come on, just stay strong for God's sake! Women do this _all_ the time. You're no different from any of them. You're only, what, six or seven weeks along? It's technically not even a baby then!'_

"There's your baby, Miss Fujioka."

'…'

Within mere seconds of her thinking such a dreadful thought, she took it back immediately when she tilted her head towards the ultrasound console's monitor. It took only another second for the image she was viewing to fully register in her brain. That usually wasn't the case, especially with someone of her intelligence, but it was such a big moment that she needed to assure herself that it was actually there.

When she did, she could have sworn that she felt all her worry, anxiety, frustration, and every other cooped-up emotion melt away as her eyes widened in amazement at the monitor.

Or more precisely, the image displayed on it.

"I-is that…oh, my God…"

Haruhi found difficulty in responding to the sonographer, who continually moved the transducer to pinpoint the fetus' various body parts. Sitting up in her seat in an attempt to get a better look, she found herself face to face with what looked almost nothing like most people's images of infants. It was hard to describe its appearance; it didn't look the least bit human, but it didn't just look like a mere clump of cells either.

But to Haruhi, appearances (as usual) made no difference to her. She could only slowly bring a hand to cover her now gaping mouth, her eyes still bugging out at the image. Along with being able to see the image, she could hear unusual whooshing sounds emitting from the machine as well, which further indicated the existence of the life growing inside of her.

"Um, Miss Fujioka…are you feeling alright?"

Haruhi barely took notice of the gynecologist's tone, which surprisingly sounded a bit worried for once. She didn't even realize that the doctor was even in the room anymore, though it didn't matter to her at that moment. Everything around her could have disintegrated and she still would've been too absorbed in her thoughts regarding her baby and, even more crucially, the impending procedure that would ultimately rid her of it.

With that thought ringing loudly in her head like an annoying alarm clock, she, upon realization of what was approaching, slowly began shaking her head.

As she removed her hands from her mouth, she whimpered as she was gasping for air, just as her eyes were beginning to well up with tears. She slapped her hand over her eyes to stop them from falling.

"I…I can't…not my own baby…"

* * *

_Have you ever experienced death before? _

_Really, you _haven't?_ Well, of course not; that would just be utterly preposterous, or it is to me at least. Some, including imbeciles such as Tamaki and the twins, might hold a belief in the undead, but such a notion is illogical on so many levels that…alright, I digress._

_Whether you have (which I greatly doubt) or not, I can, without a shred of doubt, say that I have not. However, with that said, I can safely say that I came incredibly close to it though. Believe me, the experience was anything and everything short of pleasant._

_It's challenging to put simply into words, not to mention how fast it went, but to put it in short as much as I can, there was first an ear-shattering crash that almost made me lose my hearing (though I'd guess that it was a result of the three-way collision). I can't clearly remember, nor do I have any desire to, exactly what then happened, but there was then a very sharp and excruciating pain that flared up everywhere in my body. I had never experienced a pain so numbing before, nor had I actually had so much of a desire to die before either; but I must say that it was a miracle I didn't._

_Because of how swiftly it was all flashing before me, it took some time for it to fully register in my mind what was going on. Whatever I had been doing before had been forgotten almost entirely by then. However, when I did come to at least slight terms with the situation at hand, I somehow succeeded in staying calm as the frantic paramedics undid my seatbelt and carefully strap my body to a gurney. I certainly had been through some extreme situations before, but never any that had been this life-threatening before._

_I can vaguely remember having an oxygen mask forced against my mouth as I was being driven in an ambulance to the closest Ootori-managed medical center, but then I found my vision clouding up more than it already had become. (To be honest, I was practically blind without my glasses, but I still had a decent awareness as to what the hell was going on.) Before I even had enough time to confirm what was about to happen to me, the inevitable had already occurred._

_What ended up happening probably seems obvious enough for you to figure out on your own. It felt as if I had actually died that day, the only differences being that it wasn't permanent, I had a _very_ negligible amount of awareness throughout the time I was "dead", and I stayed in a hospital room the entire time as opposed to a coffin or getting cremated. You would likely suspect that I, the so-called "Shadow King" who desperately yearns to hear as much gossip concerning as many (notable) people as possible, would embrace having the ability to eavesdrop on my family's doctors without being suspected of it for such a substantial amount of time._

_However, during this time, I had only then finally come to realize that some things really are better left unheard…or at least unheard if one of said "things" isn't meant to be heard at a certain time._

* * *

**(Early that evening,**

**The Fujioka Family's condominium)**

Usually, the atmosphere in the condo would feel somewhat cozy to Haruhi, sometimes pacifying even; but that evening, the air, for what she was sure was the first time since she and Ranka had moved into the condo, felt unusually tense and uncomfortable as the two of them sat silently at the table with their dinner with the local news on (but muted).

During dinner when Haruhi had told Ranka that she had something of the utmost importance to tell him, he had muted it so he could be all ears to whatever she had to say. A half hour later and he still was too deep in thought to give the slightest damn about the news. It would have taken a city-wide evacuation or assassination attempt on the prime minister to snap him out of his daze. But still, even Haruhi had to wonder if even either of those things would bring him out. He wasn't one to think so intensely about _anything_, but she figured she couldn't be _too_ surprised_._

His only daughter had just gotten knocked up after all.

But still, she was more than taken aback when he didn't respond as outraged as she had expected. He did express how overwhelmed he was, but it just didn't contain the emotion she anticipated, which led to the seemingly endless period of silence that befell the two of them. She found trouble in finding anything to say to him that didn't sound apologetic, but the silence was driving her crazy on the inside and she hadn't a clue what else she could say. She of all people obviously wasn't used to apologizing for something like this before.

"Dad…" she began solemnly, fidgeting with the chopsticks in her hand as she tried to bring up the topic at hand again, though it was sort of hard considering they weren't making any eye contact. "I can't tell you how sorry I am about this. I made such a terrible mistake, even if I was in distress at the time. I should have known better not to do it with Kyoya-sempai, especially without the proper precautions. I feel terrible for putting you in this position, but I really don't know what to do and I really need your help with this. And again, I…I couldn't be more sorry about this."

"I know that, Haruhi. If anything, I would have been even more shocked if you weren't apologizing so profusely," he said all of a sudden, making Haruhi's eyes dart from the scraps of food in her bowl to him in surprise, but also somewhat in relief. He looked down pensively at his own bowl as he spoke, a sort of sadness evident in his eyes. "I'm still trying to fully wrap my head around this situation, but I promise that I'll support you in this the best I can."

Haruhi couldn't help but give him a slight smile as he looked up at her; he exchanged it as he held his arms out towards her. Adhering to his apparent wishes, she slowly scooted closer to him on her cushion and allowed him to wrap his arms around her. She smiled wider as she buried her face in his chest, beginning to feel better about the situation they were now both in; as scared as she was of telling him, she knew that she could rely on him to help her out, considering how sensitive and considerate he could be when his little girl needed him.

"Thanks, Dad. I love you and I appreciate you so much for helping me…" she said softly, gripping his shirt tightly as he kept embracing her.

"I have to. What kind of a dad would I be if I didn't help my own daughter and future grandchild? I promise you from the bottom of my heart that I'll help you to the best of my abilities. However, Haruhi…"

Out of nowhere, he let her go out of his arms and, to her surprise, firmly grabbed her by her shoulders, looking at her intently. Her big, doe eyes stared at him in awe as he stared right back. This was also a first to her, seeing him look so serious. (Again, she felt that there really was no basis for being surprised about this.) The air felt a bit tense again as well, but she could tell that whatever he had to say was going to be imperative for her to hear, as were all of his more intense heart-to-hearts, though this was likely to be the most important one yet.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"It's ultimately up to you whether you want to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. I can't tell you which one of them I think is better; it's your child after all. You just need to consider what kind of life you want the child to have and how you want to give it to him or her. Both choices have pros and cons to them and you need to figure out which has the pros that outweigh its cons and the pros of the other. It also depends on what you want to do about school and…_Kyoya-kun_." She slightly trembled at the disdain that dripped from his last word in that sentence and the words that soon came after it. She could have sworn that his nails were digging holes in her shoulders. "I swear, if that boy dares to try and abandon you, Suoh won't be the only one going to an early grave. When I find Kyoya-kun, I'll make sure that he takes just as much responsibility and-"

As Ranka was on the verge of going on a rant about the anger he now held for Kyoya, he found his words coming to an unexpected halt. Haruhi, noticing his expression go from angry to astonished at the drop of a hat, turned around out of curiosity to see what he was looking at. Right behind her happened to be their television set, which, if she recalled, was merely displaying the local news. While she did like to stay up-to-date with current events, Ranka had muted it earlier and she was more concerned with their discussion, so she hadn't really paid any heed to it before.

Ranka wasted no time turning the volume back on, but the images and videos being shown in the story they were currently airing were more than terrifying enough for Haruhi. A look of complete horror took over her face as she watched (and now listened) to the special report in agony.

"…_earlier this afternoon, in a reckless collision with two other cars. Kyoya Ootori, age nineteen, the third son of Yoshio Ootori, the current head of the prestigious Ootori Group, was unfortunate enough to get caught right in the middle of it. The BMW he was operating was nearly totaled in the accident, due to the force of the crashes from both sides. From what the traffic lights' security cameras caught, Ootori was first caught in a rear-end collision with the first vehicle and then a broadside collision with the other, the driver of which running a red light from his side of the intersection. The side impact nearly ejected Ootori him from his vehicle. Paramedics and the Ootori Group's own police force arrived at the scene minutes later to examine the damage, clear the intersection of any pedestrians, and keep traffic moving."_

Shuddering even harder than before, Haruhi could barely watch as the images and videos from the crash kept popping up one by one, illustrating the gruesome damage Kyoya's car received as a result. She didn't even want to see what actually happened to _him_ as a result. It was then that she suddenly froze, a further realization hitting her straight in the head.

"Oh, my God…that…that was the exact same accident I saw just as I was leaving the clinic. Who would've thought that _he _was actually involved in it…?" she sniveled, feeling Ranka place a comforting hand on her shoulder from behind as they kept watching in distress.

Despite his rage directed towards the young Ootori, even he had some sympathy towards him, considering the toll such an accident could have had on him. Plus, and while he wouldn't bring it up to Haruhi that moment, Ranka had wanted to be the one to kill him, not a pointless accident.

"_No pedestrians or other drivers were harmed as a result of either collision. The two civilians involved in the accident are currently in good condition with mere scratches, but both are now scheduled to appear in court to settle the damages caused by the accident. Ootori, on the other hand, is currently in critical condition with a broken leg, a broken arm, two fractured ribs, a herniated disc, and severe brain trauma that, approximately a half hour after the accident, put him into a deep coma. After being driven to the nearest Ootori medical center, Ootori's other injuries were operated on as soon as possible; unfortunately, he himself has been showing a severely low level of consciousness, a bad sign that, according to one of the hospitals lead doctors, indicates his slim chances of waking up any time soon or at all. He is currently recovering from his injuries and is staying at the hospital until further notice. Yoshio Ootori, after being contacted minutes after the first surgery, refused to comment on…"_

While the report lasted for several more minutes, Haruhi, in the state of severe affliction she soon found herself in, nearly knocked over the dishes sitting on the table as she rushed over to the front door and began putting her jacket and shoes back on from earlier. Without wasting a second, she slammed the door open and was just about ready to burst out of the condo.

"Haruhi! Where are you going?" Ranka called out worriedly as he rushed over to the door as well, staring at her in terror.

There was no point in asking her; he had a good enough idea as to where she was planning to go. When she was set on doing something, he knew there was no stopping her. He certainly got that message when she, halfway out the door, looked back at him with the most tormented expression he had ever seen in his life. She gasped tiredly for air as she shot daggers at him fiercely for a moment before answering. Ranka could hear her choking up as she spoke, which further confirmed how much desolation she obviously was in due to this unexpected development.

"I have to go see Kyoya-sempai, Dad! I have to make sure he's alright! He can't just die on me, not now! He just can't!"

With those last words, she took no time rushing out of the place and slamming the door shut. Ranka, not being to take anymore stress at that moment, realized how futile it would be to stop her. He desolately looked down at the floor where he stood, trying not to completely lose it at that point. He buried his hands in his face as he sighed.

"Oh, Haruhi, please...if nothing else, just try not to get hurt again...Neither of us can take anymore stress right now...nor can your baby..."


	6. Vindicated

(A/N: I'm sorry for the wait, especially since I have another fic in progress right now! Since I can't message anonymous reviews directly, I just wanted to comment that unless I'm mistaken, I had always thought that "-sempai" and "-senpai" were interchangeable [and for some reason, I chose sempai]. If I'm wrong, I profusely apologize if I've made a mistake!

I'm sorry if this chapter's not very eventful, but I just wanted to take it slow and make it a bit deeper and more reflective without cramming too much in. I'm sorry if Kyoya might come off as OOC, but remember that the events in this fic are intentionally out of chronological order and that you haven't seen him go through any character changes yet. I really had fun writing it and I hope it's not too bad. [I swear, I've re-written it over _five_ times already!]

On a not-too-unrelated note, I just _love_ the new live action series to death! No, not _everything_ is _exactly_ like it is in the manga or anime, but it's just small things [like Tamaki and Honey's hair colors and Tamaki's ethnicity, which are _not_ the end of the world]. I'm not really sure why, but I like Tamaki _a lot_ better and don't think he's as annoying! [Yusuke Yamamoto's really awesome as him!] I'm evenbeginning to write my fanfics with the live action in mind at times! You guys should all check it out! Shunsuke Daito is totally perfect as Kyoya!)

* * *

Having already been married for about five years, Fuyumi bitterly regretted that she and her husband were still childless, despite their desperate efforts at conceiving. At one point, they did go as far as attempting IVF, but to no avail. It was already a necessity that she produce an heir at some point in their marriage, but being the doting, motherly woman she was, it was incredibly heartbreaking above all other feelings. She always loved children and wanted a child more than anything. Even though it was nothing substantial, she was so used to caring for Kyoya when they were younger that she felt more than confident in that it was fully within her ability to care for one as well. She didn't have anything really holding her back, considering that she never worked and was often at home alone and bored out of her mind. (Unlike her brothers, she was never pressured by Yoshio to accomplish anything great or do anything besides marrying well.) The desire just always stuck with her throughout her life, but it just never seemed to become a reality, even when the timing was finally perfect for her.

With such undesirable results, she couldn't help be continuously fret over the obvious worst case scenario, that she was infertile. In a way, it wasn't even an option since it was crucial that she'd produce an heir for her husband eventually. It also didn't seem all that likely since there were no cases of infertility in her family's medical history; both of her older brothers already had two sons each not long after they both got married. Males might have been blatantly more prominent in her family, but there were certainly no traces of infertility. There didn't seem to be any reason she couldn't have children as well.

Suffice to say that it shattered her heart to hear from her doctor that her worst nightmare was, in fact, a reality.

There was never any question that adoption or surrogacy were always viable options and that they wouldn't be difficult considering her family's income, but they weren't things she ever considered before. She always had that picture perfect family image burned in her brain that, though she might not have a choice in the end, she didn't want to deviate from if she could help it. She yearned to have her _own_ child, to carry and give birth to herself. She wanted to full experience. She didn't want it to play out in any other way.

But sadly for her, in the present day, as she sat in the living room of her little brother's friend's condo, she was just past thirty and still as unsuccessful as ever in her endeavor to conceive. For some time, she was able to get those negative thoughts out of her mind and focus on other things in her life, including spending time with said brother that she hadn't seen in well over a year.

Unfortunately, the unexpected discovery of her new niece brought them flooding right back into her mind, though it was hard to dwell on them too much considering the enormity of said discovery. However, to Kyoya's relief, her anger melted away rather quickly once he invited her into the condo…

"Oh, my God, aren't you just the sweetest little angel I've ever seen! I just can't believe how sweet and adorable you are! Yes, you are! Oh, yes, you _are!_ You just might be the _cutest_ niece a woman could ever dream of having!_"_

Kyoya, coming back into the living room with a small tray that carried two cups of tea, the matching pot, and a freshly heated bottle, felt tempted to roll his eyes as he watched his ever-doting older sister coo in the cutesiest manner to the little girl she cradled carefully in her arms. He knew she was always a sucker for babies and children, but he couldn't help but think that this was her way of dealing with her distress of being unable to have any children of her own. For that, he felt somewhat sorry for her and held back any sarcastic comments he might have had. As sickeningly sweet as it was, he could admit that he was glad that Kyoko seemed to be okay with her aunt fussing over her so much; if anything, she looked like she might have even been enjoying it.

The infant, dressed warmly in light pink footsy pajamas, peered up at her and cooed happily as she was being bounced up and down, which only made Fuyumi fuss over her even more. Fuyumi took notice of her eyes, which were the same beautiful onyx color that ran in their family. As much as she also loved her nephews, Fuyumi didn't think she could possibly imagine a more beautiful baby than Kyoko if she tried.

Kyoya had some difficulty in making his way around the toy- and clothing-littered floor without spilling anything. As busy as she had been recently, he found it hard to believe that Haruhi would allow her home to become as dirty as it was since she was usually so on top of everything in her life. As out of character as it seemed, he somewhat wanted to do her the favor of doing some cleaning around the place, but she would likely give him a hard time about it, insisting that she would've been able to do it herself. In addition to that, he didn't think he'd have the time since he planned on doing some homework while watching Kyoko; his sister's sudden drop-in didn't exactly help his cause either.

"Settle down, sis. You've made it crystal clear how absolutely adorable and precious she is, both things of which I'm very well aware of, but just don't tire her out yet. I can't have her falling asleep before I feed her," Kyoya said matter-of-factly as he set the tray down on the table, giving his sister an unamused look.

For a moment, Fuyumi pouted in her brother's direction, but at the mention of feeding Kyoko, she gasped excitedly and her eyes instantly lighted up like those of a kid on Christmas morning as she looked back and forth from him and the gurgling baby in her arms. She had more than enough practice with her nephews and even Kyoya when he was first born; she already felt more than excited. However, Kyoya took notice of this right away and grimaced at her.

"No, Fuyumi, you can't feed her."

A look of complete despair fell over Fuyumi's previously hopeful expression. She couldn't help but gape dramatically at him. It was just like him to ruin her fun, but it didn't seem fair. Ready to object, she was quickly beat before she could get a single word out.

"I'm sorry, but only Haruhi, her father, and I can ever seem to get her to drink when she needs to. My friends have all tried and she's always difficult with them, not that I'm _that_ surprised. They're just as bad as you are when it comes to fussing over her. But even the nurses could barely get a drop down her throat the first day after she was born. Look, just let me handle it."

As Kyoya sat down next to her and held his arms out insistently, Fuyumi slightly hesitated, but with a look of defeat, complied and carefully passed off the infant to her father, pouting once again. She watched how cordially he cradled her, but she had to admit that, as weird as the image might have appeared in her brain before (not that she ever envisioned it before today), it almost looked natural for him, but that was to be expected, she guessed. According to what he had told her earlier, he spent the entirety of his two weeks of winter break helping Haruhi with Kyoko while she was on maternity leave. It went without saying that he obviously learned a thing or two. Fuyumi knew how her brother always went above and beyond with every challenge he took on, but never could she imagine him being so dedicated to something like _this._

As she grabbed one of the cups of tea, she watched him as he simultaneously grabbed the bottle and began using it to feed Kyoko, who quieted down immediately as she began sucking on it without giving Kyoya the slightest bit of a hard time. Fuyumi almost couldn't believe her eyes when she witnessed a slight smile creep upon his face. She had pretty much made the assumption that he was doing all this primarily out of obligation for his daughter, but it seemed as if he was actually _enjoying_ taking care of her. She could barely bring the cup to her lips as she watched them in a mix of amazement and disbelief.

'_Is this really the same Kyoya I watched graduate almost two years ago?' _she wondered, slowly sipping her tea after getting over the initial shock. She still couldn't take her eyes off the two of them. _'I can understand that having a baby could change a person, but still, this is Kyoya we're talking about here! I would never think that _he _of all people would actually like taking care of a baby, even if she was his own. I'd only imagine that he'd force all of his parental responsibilities onto Haruhi or at least hire a nanny if he could…'_

"Sis, is something the matter or do you just enjoy staring blankly at me?"

Snapping out of her thoughts at the sound of his voice, Fuyumi was a bit startled by the sudden wake up, only to see the puzzled (and still unamused) expression Kyoya was wearing as he kept feeding Kyoko.

"Oh, sorry, Kyoya. I guess I was just spacing out for a moment…though, I have to admit…" she said thoughtfully as she set her cup down on the tray and began refilling it with the teapot. Kyoya just sighed as he turned back to his daughter, who began sucking less as she became sleepier. "While I'm honestly very happy about it, I'm just a bit surprised that you're so dedicated to helping Haruhi take care of your guys' baby. I'd think you of all people would dread having such responsibilities on your hands when you're always working so tirelessly. In fact, I'm surprised that you're even doing any of this to begin with, but I'm proud of you."

Kyoya was unable to hide his surprise when he heard his sister say such a thing. His eyes scarcely widened as he looked back up at her. She could see it in his eyes that he was a bit stunned, but she just resumed sipping her tea as innocently as she could, not really sure what she could say to him. After a slightly awkward stare down between the two of them, she became surprised herself when his face suddenly fell. She didn't think her comment was exactly hurtful; if anything, it was just a simple observation on her part, but he looked upset suddenly. She had an even more difficult time now in believing that this was really Kyoya of all people. Since when did he not to hesitate to show emotion? What happened to keeping a cool front at all times? She could easily recall him even doing so with her at practically every waking moment, so what was different now (other than Kyoko now being a pretty major part of his life)?

"To be honest, you're not exactly the first person to make such a comment about my decisions, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to hear any more about it after I finally scolded my friends about it," he murmured quietly as he set the bottle down, turning away from her again as he began to gently rock the sleepy child he held firmly against his chest. She raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, clearly not understanding what he was referring to.

"Kyoya, what are you talking about when you say "decision"? I was just referring to how you seem to be doing a good job taking care of Kyoko. I don't entirely understand this little…arrangement you and Haruhi have going on as of yet, nor do I really think you should have kept this all from your own family, but-"

"_Those_ decisions. The decisions to help Haruhi take care of her and to keep it all a secret from as many people possible, the same ones that apparently caused all my friends to think the end of the world was upon us." A chill went up Fuyumi spine as his tone became slightly more caustic and as he suddenly shot up out of his seat. "But regardless as to however they might perceive me as a person, I didn't realize until only a month before Kyoko was born that they thought of me as being too greedy, manipulative, and self-centered to be capable of loving my own flesh and blood enough to want to be involved in her life. It's also for that same reason that they refuse to acknowledge that I've kept her a secret from everyone else for reasons other than to not get into trouble with our father. Evidently, while you might have a higher opinion of me than they do, you seem to share similar views as them."

Fuyumi nearly spat out her tea in response and briefly started coughing before she could be able to compose herself. She looked up at him to find him actually _scowling _at her, but he almost immediately turned away from her in irritation, still attempting to get Kyoko to fall asleep. There wasn't a shred of doubt in her mind that he was definitely aggravated with her now (and apparently with his group of friends), even though he was still acting pretty subtle about it and hadn't blown it out of proportion in the slightest. However, she never thought for a second that his own friends would actually be giving him such a hard time about all of this, especially when Haruhi was already so far into her pregnancy, but Kyoya was obviously still holding their words against them. Even worse, she hated that _she_ of all people only further angered him, even though, unlike like these friends of his, she had no intention to sound berating towards him.

"K-Kyoya, I…I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you upset in the least," she said worriedly, attempting to sound comforting as she put her cup down and stood up next to him. She placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch, but he then didn't move an inch, not even to face her as she spoke. "I didn't know your friends were giving you such grief about all of this, but they're obviously just concerned about you, just like I am. For them to say such horrible things about you was very harsh of them and there's absolutely no reason to doubt your abilities in anything you do, but you can't really blame anyone for feeling at least a little disgruntled about all of this. I mean, none of can be easy on you.

"But unfortunately, you have to face facts, Kyoya; you've always been one to look out for number one and anyone would be surprised to see you looking out for Kyoko so diligently. I know that you're trying hard to make this all work out in the best way possible, but by obsessively keeping this a secret, it's not all that surprising that they or anyone else would question your motives. It's clear to me that you do love her a lot, but anyone who knows anything about you knows how much you've devoted yourself to impressing Dad. If your friends are still giving you a hard time or if you're just not happy with them, you need to be a lot more open with your emotions. It might not be natural for you and it might take time before you might start sounding convincing to them, but it's the only way for your friends or anyone else to understand what your incentives are for dealing with all of this in the first place.

At that moment, Fuyumi felt as if time began to stand still. The silence was torturous to her as she awaited some sort of response from her brother. The atmosphere became more and more uncomfortable as the dead silence began settling in. She realized how much she said in that one spiel, so it probably needed time to soak into his head before he could find some suitable answer for her. As she said, it wasn't natural for him to be very openly expressive to others, so that concept was likely foreign to him and something that might not have ever occurred to him before.

However, he now had a _daughter_ for crying out loud, and at only _twenty years old_ with one of his platonic friends no less. He had to be feelings _something_ in regards to all of it. It wasn't healthy for him to just keep it all in, or at least to her it wasn't.

"She's falling asleep now, finally," he said quietly, finally breaking the silence, but not exactly the way she expected (or really wanted). He looked down solemnly at the child to confirm it. His tone was considerably calmer now. "I need to go put her down for her morning nap right now. Please excuse me for a moment and _don't_ move."

When he turned around to begin making his way to what Fuyumi assumed was Kyoko's nursery, which prompted her to slowly remove her hand from his shoulder, she could see the neutral expression he now wore as he briefly glance her way. She almost had to wonder if her words meant anything to him, but she didn't think about it for long as he strode right passed her to go into the nursery. Its door was wide open, but he hastily shut it closed behind him without making too much noise.

Fuyumi sighed to herself as she watched the two of them disappear into the nursery, "As usual, he doesn't seem to like hearing my own opinion if it conflicts with his own. But still…"

She carefully sat back down and began gazing up at the ceiling in deep thought, just as concerned as ever (if not more so now) for her baby brother's sake and for that of her niece.

"Even if he has changed since she was born and is more caring than his own circle of friends perceive him to be, how on Earth is he possibly going to continue on like this for the rest of his life? Even if his intentions are good and he wants to carry on with this arrangement, I don't think it's right for him to be keeping all of this hidden from everyone else, especially his own family. As hard as he's trying to keep it a secret from Dad, I can only imagine that it's merely a matter of time before it's too overbearing to keep such a huge secret…"

* * *

'_Dammit…what the hell could she possibly understand about our situation? I'm the one who has unsupportive friends and an illegitimate child that Father would disapprove of, not her. I know she means well, but she doesn't know anything. My efforts to get through to those idiots have continued to prove ineffective.'_

After shutting the door, Kyoya paced around the room as he pondered his sister's words, examining the pristine white walls and perfectly placed furniture. The room brought back the memories of the day he and others decided to finally furnish and decorate it, but it took some prompting to get them to accept that, ultimately, he had the final word on everything from the room's color scheme to the hypo-allergenic stuffed animals (a suggestion that sounded too much like Kyoya to them). He couldn't resist cracking a small smile as he admired his work on the nursery, especially since it was the nicest room in the whole condo, but it faded when it began to remind him of the members of the now dissolved host club. He couldn't help but scoff to himself as he kept rocking Kyoko in an attempt to make her fall fully asleep.

'_I shouldn't be so surprised though, considering how dense they can all be, but it's insulting that even after all I've done, they still doubt me and my reasons for not telling my father about Kyoko. And not that Fuyumi would have any way of knowing, but I've already received that same lecture from Haruhi. Obviously, they've both been wrong so far,' _he thought to himself as he carefully sat down in the rocking chair.

As he slowly rocked in the chair, his eyes, which were beginning to look just as tired as his daughter's, soon landed on the dresser next to him, or more specifically, the numerous pictures sitting on top of it, the ones he began arranging before Kyoko was even born. Even though there were so many of them and they began to clutter the available surface of the dresser, he figured that Haruhi would appreciate the nice homey touch it added to the room and he was pleased to learn that she greatly appreciated it. He found himself frowning at them as he scanned each one, each of which brought back a memory, but he could at least admit that each one was a happy one.

The ones that he had initially put there were of the former host between when Haruhi first joined their them to when she and the twins graduated. As expected, several showcased them in some wacky cosplay or formal attire at some club event, usually something that was Tamaki's idea. Compared to recent events, Kyoya could remember those times much more fondly and thought it'd be nice for Kyoko to have pictures of her parents and uncles from their happier years. He thought that the graduation picture of Haruhi with the others after the ceremony had her looking her best, but he felt uncomfortable at the fact that she was likely faking her usually brilliant natural type smile, considering how stressful that specific day had been for her.

Right next to them were ones from over the past year, primarily during Haruhi's pregnancy and when the two of them began spending increasingly more time together. It surprised him when she insisted that they do so, but he couldn't deny it to himself that he genuinely enjoyed their times together. While he still held onto his strong feelings for her, he knew how wrapped up she was with getting ready for their baby that he controlled himself and not allow his emotions to take over. He briefly kept his gaze still on one from when the two of them were alone at the beach when she was about seven months along. He couldn't believe she actually wanted to go, but she insisted on doing it, maybe just to get fresh air and out of that stupid café. He was casually lying on a chaise in only his swim trunks when she, wearing a cute maternity suit the twins claimed to have made _just_ _for her_, got next to him and quickly took it before he could object. He hated how indifferent he looked in it next to her. However, he would never admit to her how much her smiley expression in that picture made his heart melt, or at least not anytime soon.

Last, but far from least, were finally the pictures of Kyoko herself from literally minutes after she was born. Despite how tired Haruhi looked in one of the pictures, Kyoya, after cautiously getting up out of his seat, walked over to the dresser and picked it up to examine it closely, still thinking about how beautiful she looked anyway. As expected, each former host just _had_ to get the chance to hold her before she was even a couple hours old. It just wouldn't be like them to not make an already eventful (and stress-filled) day even crazier if they had the chance to. He could clearly remember threatening all of them if just one of them dropped her or handled her carelessly, but to Haruhi's relief, no one lost his head that day.

Kyoya could easily recall the joy he had felt that day, but as he scanned over each picture of each of his five "best friends", he could only feel anger, the same anger he had been feeling towards them for he didn't know how long.

'_Hikaru…Kaoru…Honey-sempai…Mori-sempai…and even…_Tamaki_…'_

He couldn't help but glare the hardest at the jovial expression he wore as he cradled his "granddaughter/step-daughter". He still couldn't believe he and Haruhi allowed him to touch her after what he did, even though he profusely apologized and explained himself, as well as proving very helpful to both of them in their situation.

_'How much more do I have to do to prove to you morons that I'm not the same "Shadow King" that only looks out for himself? I never thought I ever appeared _that_ heartless in front of others. Cold and calculating maybe, but not heartless…but even if so, I just wish they'd have more faith in me.'_

As the anger within him began to build up, he found his hand holding the picture of Haruhi gripping it even harder. He gritted his teeth as his eyes glanced back and forth from her picture to those of the others. He hated how much they questioned his motives and, as Fuyumi suggested, had made it as clear as he possibly could that he wasn't just doing this entirely for his own gain, but he knew. He could tell that they were still doubtful and he loathed it.

"Damn them all…if Haruhi believes in me, then why can't they?" he snarled as he was nearly ready to slam the picture in his hand back onto the top of the dresser. "Just..._dammit!"_

However, just as he was ready to annihilate the picture he was clutching, he immediately froze upon hearing a certain two-month-old begin to wail uncontrollably in his arm. Gaping in surprise, he quickly looked down at Kyoko, his eyes widening as he watched her cry with her tears running down her face, flailing her limbs in distress. So much for getting her to take her nap all that easily…

"Oh, God…" he groaned, frowning down at her as he more gingerly placed the picture back down. "That wasn't a very intelligent move on my part, now was it?"

Now cradling her with both of his arms again, he walked back over to and took a seat in the rocking chair, rocking back and forth in an attempt to console his child. He held her against his chest again and affectionately rubbed her back as he whispered comfortingly to her, but she showed absolutely no signs in calming down. He could swear that if his stress levels were measured on a bar graph, they'd be running miles and miles off of the graph by now.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to blow up like that and wake you. I'm sorry..." he sighed, his expression becoming more and more worried the longer she kept crying. "God, look at me…you can't understand a word I'm saying and you're not going to stop just because I'm asking you to, but I feel obligated to apologize to you anyway…"

Choking on his own words, Kyoya exhaled exasperatedly. After a couple more minutes of non-stop wailing, he felt a small wave of relief wash over him when said wailing became reduced to light sniffling. A small smile appearing on his face, he gently lifted her up and held her right in front of him just so he could look at her. As her tears finally came to a halt, he practically started laughing. He was unable to keep in a light chuckle from escaping his lips, which somewhat took him aback, but he figured it must have simply been out of slight hysteria.

As the little girl, now quieted down, stared blankly at her father, he couldn't help but just stare back. She began getting tired again rather quickly and his smile soon vanished as he pursed his lips together tightly, a couple of his own tears running down his face this time.

Swallowing the huge knot in his throat, he softly began speaking again, "Speaking of obligation…I know your uncles all think I'm merely doing this solely out of some "obligation" to your mother and yourself. I also know that they think I'm keeping you a secret from your grandfather only because I'm apparently beyond desperate to succeed him and not let him down. However…"

As he let out another deep sigh, he lovingly cradled Kyoko and brought her closer to him, biting down on his lip as he began choking on his own words again. Gazing down at her as she was beginning to fall asleep again, he felt more confident than ever that the others were _completely_ wrong about what they thought about him. Maybe their perceptions of him were accurate a year ago, but he knew how drastically he had changed since then, and it was thanks to Haruhi and their daughter.

"While that might all still be important to me, I do all this because I honestly love you more than they could ever understand…" Kyoya tried his hardest to stop anymore tears from falling, but on this rare occasion, he realized he had trouble covering up his emotions. "And because if your grandfather found out, he'd disown me immediately and I wouldn't be able to support you financially…or worse…he'd make me put you up for adoption."

If Kyoya wasn't a master of putting up a front like he was, he had a feeling more of his tears would spill out simply because he even _thought_ about the idea of giving up his little girl to someone else.

"I love you, Kyoko..." he whispered as she finally fell completely asleep, lightly kissing her on the top of her head. "When everything and everyone else in my life becomes too much at times, I still have you..."


	7. Important Author's Note

**(I apologize if you were hoping this was an update! You might have seen this if you read the A/N in _HS,HT,KW, _but I didn't really get the response I hoped for and want to try and reach out to my readers as much as possible because I'd really appreciate feedback. [I also don't want any of my fics'**** possible disappearances to shock or upset anyone too much! Read below for info on that.]**)

**(You can skip this paragraph if you don't have any interest in my life or reasons for being on a hiatus, which I understand completely.) **Hi guys. I know, it's been a _long _time since you've seen me on here (with the exception of some reviews I've given to some fics). I'll be blunt before I get to my main point: I had lost a lot of interest in writing, even though I think about potential fanfiction and original fiction ideas all the time, and haven't done any real writing since my last update. On my first day of this school year (all the way back in August), I had gotten into a car crash that really took an emotional toll on me. I also had some serious social and academic stress going on for most of my first quarter of school. Basically, I've kinda been focusing more on other aspects of my life and putting fanfiction far off my radar.

I'm incredibly sorry to my readers who have been waiting for me to update any of my current fics. However, actually getting to the point of this A/N, I just wanted to put my current ideas out in the open in order to get your guys' opinion. As of right now, _Alter the Ending _is on a hiatus (and sadly has a chance of being discontinued because of my loss of interest in it). _HJ,HS,KH_ technically is on one too, but I don't plan to discontinue it (though the one chapter I do have posted of it could be considered a one-shot).

The biggest, most important thing I wanted to tell you guys was that, despite it's still growing fanbase, I'm not happy with _HS,HT,KW_, my current dissatisfaction likely stemming from the fact that it was my first serious fic that I've actually finished and because I've gotten substantially better at writing since my days working on it. Right now, I'm seriously considering doing some _heavy_ revising on it (almost rewriting it even, but with the overall same premise and maybe I'll retain some events), especially because I want to incorporate elements from both the manga and live action now.

So anyway, I want to know your guys' opinion on this drastic revision I'm considering. Obviously, if I choose to pursue this little project, I'm gonna have to take down _HS,HT,KW_ as it currently is all together since it'll technically be a different fic (though I do obviously intend for it to be tons better). I've made a poll that's now open in my profile, but I'd greatly appreciate if you guys give me your input in a review or PM. Whether it's your overall opinion if I should do this or not or an idea I could implement into my revision, any feedback would be helpful.

Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this if you have!


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